Brock went up to Darcy that night, sniffing her neck. "That's rude," she noted with a glare at him.
"I don't mean anything by it. Just making sure since you stunk like soured lemons earlier and that's not normal."
"Yeah, new calcium meds again." She waved the bottle. "Stronger ones."
"That's good. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Fully out of heat and just fine."
He stared at her. "The arthritis stuff."
"It happens to a lot of us."
"I realize that. It happens to guys who go into rut too." He stared at her. "I know there's a few new treatments."
"I've been on the quarterly IV stuff now for years. Since Aria was about six months old. University of New Mexico put me on it when I fractured a wrist by leaning. So far I'm doing okay, just some joint pain."
"What about the drugs for RA? Or even PA?"
"I didn't think about the psoriatic arthritis drugs. The RA ones are not suitable to any dragon."
"That blows." She nodded. "But you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm about as strong as I usually am. I'm already recovering from the heat, I've taken extra calcium the whole time."
"Is that why you don't like to change?"
"No." She leaned her back against the countertop. "This is a fundamental difference here, Brock. To me, with who I am, I learned that the dragon and human are the same. Just look a bit different. We're like siamese twins in some ways. There's no either/or or helping one side and not the other. It's all me. You said you consider your dragon to be the stronger form, the original one. To me, they're both the original.
"I'm as comfortable with my wings and scales as I am with my skin and hair. I have to be a bit careful because I can change unexpectedly. I always have. That's why my first one was while I was sleeping at seven. Yeah, I blocked myself a bit with the guilt but that was my dragon mind going 'it's bad and we have to hide from the bad'. I wouldn't have come out of the apartment at all if I didn't have to so I could hide from all that."
"So you really don't consider it a human and dragon."
"No I'm a draman. I'm both at the same time. The dragon and human sides are both in there, coexisting peacefully as they're the same thing. They taught that the dragon was different due to the church hating on us for generations." She smiled a bit. "You're a dragon who can change. A lot of them are humans who can change. I'm just...all at once."
"Your scales don't come out often."
"Actually." She picked up his hand to run up her arm. "My scales are never fully gone. You can feel them underneath the skin all the time. That's why I used to wear those sweaters when I was around a lot of non-changers, so they didn't freak out at that." He stared at it. "Yeah. I don't differentiate. It's all the same. Being in heat means that I enjoy the sex just as much as a human as a dragon. I may still have issues about being pinned down in my full size but that's trauma related," she finished quietly. "And while sex as a dragon is fun and all, it's a bit too submissive feeling for me to enjoy it as much."
"Flying one would probably solve that."
"Yeah but that won't happen until I have a consort. That's supposed to be special, something that you do with your consort. Not just anyone out there to have some fun. That's why I have sex in my human form a lot more often than my dragon one. If they can't please me there, they sure can't please me in my bigger forms. And many guys don't know what to do with a pussy anyway."
"I can't say as I've ever asked a guy how he did that." He shifted back away from her, letting her arm go. "I can totally compartmentalize the two."
"Which is what you were taught. The Church made most everyone learn that to feel shame about what their ancestors screwed." She shrugged. "Me, I'm just me. Now and then my dragon tongue will come out to help me cook with spices so I don't get too happy with them. My scales are always there. My tail may not come out real often because it gets in the way and it knows that."
He blinked a few times. "How did you learn that?"
"Grandma Rosie." She smiled. "That's how she was brought up too. She was a first gen dragon too." He nodded at that. "The same as you don't separate out your mom and your dad, why should I separate out what they gave me?"
"I get that. Though I do look more like my mother most of the time." She grinned at him. "Are you teaching Aria that?"
"Yup. Her scales aren't as prominent as mine were. They're still just under her skin but you can't really feel them most of the time until she's in a bubble bath."
"Huh." He nodded. "That makes sense. I...is that to do with the strength of the dragon in your bloodline?"
"No, that's all raising. Any of us can be raised that way. My mother complained for years about Grandma Rosie teaching me that. Called it uncouth."
"Which leads back to religious arguments that used to get us named libidinous and unworthy of God," he realized. She nodded. "I didn't even know that. I can commune with mine when I meditate."
"If I could meditate I could probably do the mirror thing to talk to myself. I can't meditate very well." She shrugged but smiled. "If I hear them differently I've noticed stuff subconsciously that it's being brought up. Like someone in the tree out there." She pointed. He called that in and the guys went to pounce them. She grinned. "I hear some purring now and then. She's very happy with our egg. Even if Aria hates being called that."
He nodded. "That's good though." He stared at her. "Can full dragons change?"
"Not that I'm aware of. I asked and got asked why they'd want to." She grinned. "He was confused about that."
"Huh. Yeah, being in dragon form is pretty great."
"Being both at the same time is like being in dragon form all the time for you." She turned and got back to work. "Tell me who that guy is?"
"He said he wanted to check on that wolf. We've lectured him about how Fennel is a baby and is protecting the baby, and a diplomatic gift that would bring some of Asgard down here to destroy his family."
"I'd do it anyway. We do have governmental permission to have him." She grinned. "I asked the guy over the DNR at the state level about it and he called up higher because it was a diplomatic present. So we have official permission from all the way up."
"Great. That's safer for Fennel anyway." He looked at what she was doing. "Soup?"
"For tomorrow." She nodded. "Aria needs something warm tomorrow. It's supposed to be chilly overnight." She looked at him. "Are you guys okay out there?"
"Yeah. The burrow's really warm. We've found a blocked off back section of the cave from a dirt slide and cleared it. That gives us enough room to move the whole camp in there if we want. It even unblocked the water supply so we don't have to run to the barn to get water."
"You can use the kitchen."
"I know." He grinned. "Don't want to make it too easy for them." He walked off after patting her on the shoulder.
Darcy looked up then got back to chopping vegetables for the soup. Aria was in bed already, with Fennel on top of her like usual. So they were all safe.
***
Darcy looked up a few days later at a loud 'boom' that went off. "Please tell me that wasn't Jane?" she yelled as she headed that way. Aria ran into the house with Fennel right behind her and headed for the safe room. "Okay." She went outside to find her ancient piece of crap car was now a smoking wreck. "Who did what?" she demanded, hands going to her hips.
"We were totally trying to figure out something we found in the back of the cave," Rollins said, holding it up with a wince.
Darcy walked over to look at it. "It's obviously a laser of some sort with that tuning crystal." She looked at him. "You blew up my car. I have to be in the city tomorrow for a specialist's appointment." She glared.
"We can drive you," Doug offered.
She looked at him. "I'll be in there all day, Doug. They'd make you go do paperwork." She looked at Rollins again. "You owe me a better used piece of crap car." She walked off with the laser.
"Yes, ma'am," he said smartly, looking at Brock, who was shaking his head. They had woken him up and he was touch grumpy about it.
"We'll figure it out," Brock called after her.
"Jane's back, she might babysit," she called back. "If I have to, I'll fly in." She went to talk to Jane, who took the laser to look at when she walked in. "They blew up the car."
"Aria hates going to the doctor with you anyway. I figured I was baby and wolf sitting."
Darcy grinned, hugging her. "Thanks, Jane. It'll probably be one of the super long ones because tomorrow's an IV day. I have to figure out where I can fly to." She went to call them, bringing the computer out onto the porch. The nurse winced at the picture on the screen. "So I may be a touch late tomorrow. I can fly in but I have no idea where I can land near the hospital. You guys are a good bit away from the area in Central Park that's a safe fly spot."
"You shouldn't fly in at all, Miss Lewis. It's not really permitted. It makes people nervous."
"I get that a lot." She grinned. "I'd take the train but it's a good thirty minute drive in the other direction."
"What happened to that wreck of metal?"
"Someone found a laser and wanted to see what it was." The nurse giggled. "Seriously. I had an uncle that tinkered. It was in the back of something."
"Oh, dear," she said, still laughing. "Can you fly to the train station?"
"I may be able to but that's a bit more iffy. That whole town is anti-shifter. They drove out a deer shifter."
"Oh, one of those. Let me see if I can figure out where you can land. I'll call back in a minute." She hung up and went to tell the scheduling nurse. Who was giggling over that but knew where she could land nearby. The port authority had a safe landing and flying area for training flights. It was only ten blocks away. So an easy cab distance if she didn't want to walk it. She told Darcy that, letting her look it up for directions. Darcy promised to be on time if possible and hung up, going to make a flight path plan. At least that was away from both major airports. She handed that plan to Brock so he'd know where she was. He was still grumpy.
He blinked at it then at her. "You can't fly all the way back to the city, Lewis."
"It's only an hour. I can do that."
"We can drive you." He sipped his coffee. "I can pop in on my mother to nag her back about the last email." She sighed but nodded. "Your appointment's at nine?"
"Nine-thirty so I have to be there by nine for the pre-IV check." She stared at him. "It'll be a long day of waiting. I won't get out until probably fiveish because there's a post IV watch time."
"That is long, but it means I get to let my mother make me lunch." He stared at her.
She nodded. "If you insist I wouldn't mind. The commuter train's not near here, it's a few towns over and they're very anti-shifter."
"I've seen some of their people and saw the local news that said they ran a stag out." He finished that cup of coffee. "I'll drive you tomorrow. The guys can watch Jane and the kid."
Darcy stared at him. "Is Fury going to change you guys out? No one's mentioned that and I know a few of your guys have families."
"He's sending up two to trade out weekly starting next week. I'm going to let Fennel scare the crap out of them so I don't have to nag." He smirked. "And Rollins needs to find you a better used car."
"He blew it up."
"I know, and I agree, he needs to replace what he broke. The same as we'd replace a lamp we broke during guarding." He looked at Rollins then at her. "Just fuel efficient?" She nodded. "We can figure that out. Some of us know engines. Yours was bad anyway."
"It had hurt feelings. I called it crappy."
He nodded. "It needed a lot of work from what we heard whenever you started it." She nodded, going to check on Jane again. Aria was up the tree so she was safe enough. She was probably even asleep underneath the sleeping wolf. He looked at the team. "I'll drop any paperwork on Hill tomorrow before I get fed." They nodded, handing over reports and other things that needed to go in.
"Patrick, you were going back first anyway. You and Mays. Henry, I pushed you back by a week because your wife warned me to not let you home yet. Apparently she's painting." That guy shuddered. "So you're second going back." He nodded, walking off calling his wife to talk to her.
They all heard it when he huffed at her trying to paint a nursery for someone, and then the shouting that it was about his future kid she hadn't told him about during any of their nightly calls. "Maybe you're going second, Mays. I'll bring up a relief agent tomorrow." He called that in to Fury so he could set up a replacement when he was in the office tomorrow.
***
Brock walked up to Fury's office, tapping since the door was open and his assistant wasn't at her desk. "Reports."
"Thank you." He took them to skim, frowning. "You're still in the burrow?"
"It's a really big nesting cave, just not up on top of a hill. We've got the full camp in there. It's nicely insulated. The run to the barn for showers is easy enough. Before you flip, Rollins had an accident." Fury flipped and found that one, staring at it. He looked up at him. Brock shrugged. "We agreed, we owe her a new piece of crap car. Hers was about dead anyway, that's why he tested the device on it."
"So he intentionally destroyed her car?"
"Her car was dying a slow, painful death. It was merciful."
"I see."
"She said just something fuel efficient that was good enough to get her little girl to school next month." He grinned. "She's in for a specialist visit."
"Perfect. How long does she have?"
"Probably about five this afternoon."
"Oh, one of those. All right. Abortion?"
"No. Treatment for bone density."
"Oh, that stuff. My mother had that." He looked at the other reports then at his STRIKE commander. "How many have you sent to the local boys for us?"
"Romanoff picks up about weekly. She enjoys that bakery."
"Is AIM still coming?"
"Twice. Once someone minor HYDRA tried to show up. The officers complained they had to scrape him off the road. We were really happy that we managed to stomp him that flat in about ten minutes. Good team building."
Fury smirked. "Any luck on making her think you like her?"
"I do like her. She's plucky and a good mom. She's a strong woman. We don't see eye-to-eye on a few things, including a major way we see our changes." He shrugged. "She's not interested. She didn't even give me a flirty look during her last heat when the local doctor didn't understand about higher dosage suppressants being necessary."
"So it's unlikely?"
"I think my job ruined it for her." He stared at Fury, who rolled his eye but nodded that he understood that. "That and her family home has to have her in residence most of the time. If she's gone over a week someone else could take over."
"That blows."
"Sucks wide actually. Does limit her being able to take Aria on vacations."
He sighed but nodded. "Your relief agent won't be ready until one."
"I can pick him up on the way to get Lewis. My mother's been nagging and I brought Henry back to talk to his wife. She wanted him held back by a week while she painted the nursery he didn't know they needed." Fury winced. "He ranted so long and hard it woke up Aria and she told him to shut up and fly home like a real dragon would. Fennel barked to back her up when Henry glared at her. I pointed out he wasn't a dragon changer, he couldn't fly. Her answer to that was a huff and to ask Jane Foster if Loki would change him so he could fly home."
"Has the kid met Loki?"
"No idea," he admitted. "Unless he's the wolf we haven't seen him."
"All right." He stared at him. "How chummy did she talk about him?"
"She may just know him through Thor's stories."
"Uh-huh. Ask Thor?"
"No idea where he is."
He tapped a button to call Avengers tower. "Rogers, get Thor on the phone. I need an important question answered about Loki." He listened to Rogers complain. "That's what I'm wondering. Thor, Nick Fury. Aria Lewis has been talking like she's met Loki a few times. Is that possible or probable?" He listened. "So he's tried to sneer at Jane Foster and she sent him off with something she created...oh, something Lewis' uncle created. Great! So does the kid talk to him?"
He listened, rubbing his forehead. "That's fine. No, she grumped at someone who was complaining at his wife to ask Loki to be changed into a dragon so he could fly home. Exactly. You may want to. Her mom's in town for a doctor appointment so Foster probably has the kid right now." Brock nodded. "Let me know if he's been around here, Thor. Just in case he tries another invasion." He hung up. "He's went to annoy Foster twice now and she's sent him off with something Lewis' uncles made."
"I wish she had told us." He sent that to Rollins to figure it out. "Jack'll go talk to her." He grinned. "Then tell us all."
"What destroyed her car?"
"Some sort of laser wand weapon."
"Shit." He looked up. "Seriously?" Brock nodded. "Great!"
"Looked like it could've been a Harry Potter wand sort of wand with one external crystal. We've decided we'll ask if she knows first."
"Saves you from buying her a new car," he said, staring at him. Brock grinned. "Fine. Go have lunch with your mother or whatever. Come back after three to pick him up or let me know."
"She said she'd be done by five."
"That's fine." He waved a hand. Brock strolled off. Fury slumped, shaking his head. He was hoping all the stress would be solved by Lewis hitting on Rumlow but apparently she hated SHIELD agents. It was probably his fault.
Hill came in to get the reports, staring at a few of them. "What sort of laser?"
"Wand style."
"Oh. Nice." She looked up. "How was that found randomly?"
He leaned back to smirk at her. "What do Archie, Morty, and April mean to you?"
"The rebuilders of AIM," she said. "No idea beyond that."
"You'd be right. More notably Uncles Archie and Morty, and one's ex-wife named April." She slumped, staring at him. "According to Lewis family legends, they restarted it to stop the wars going on. They got overthrown by the ex-wife, who then got it taken from her by the current group." He smirked. "They apparently tinkered up there too." She let out a tiny, painful sounding moan. "Yeah. My feeling too. So Rollins put her dying car of out its misery apparently by testing against it."
She nodded. "Great! Can we help Lewis set up somewhere safer?"
"It's a matriarch's home. She has to live there all the time. Only allowed off about seven days a year."
"That sucks."
"Yup." He nodded. "She's in town getting some sort of speciality treatment for something orthopedic."
"Even better." She grimaced. "All right, so all the pushing?"
"I pushed too hard and Rumlow said they don't connect on a few fundamental things."
"Pity. It'd solve a lot of local stress."
"She was in serious heat, color bleached and all, and didn't even flirt with him. So I guess they're going to have to suck it up."
"I'll pass that along to Pekin." She left to spread that gossip. He had connections back into the local dragon communities who could gossip with others. Maybe it'd stop the bullshit about Lewis.
***
Darcy came out of her doctor's office wobbly. Brock got out to help steady her. "I'm okay."
"Not the point. You're about to trip and fall."
"The meds do it to me a lot." She sighed, looking at the other agent. "Let me get into the back to lay down?"
"Sure. If you want." He helped her in and then shut the door for her. He got in to drive. "How soon before you go back?"
"Every three months." She yawned, doing one seatbelt around her waist. "Just like normal. New med but it's supposed to be stronger and not come with a risk of hip fractures."
"That's good then. You rest. Need us to hit a pharmacy?"
"Nope. They had it brought up from the one here. I'm on a different sort of calcium supplement. This one works differently. I'm off my suppressants for a week though." She grimaced. "This stuff counteracts it and would send me into a super rut sort of heat."
"All right. We can watch out for that. Won't that hurt your calcium balance though?"
"Not fully. If I was on them both, yup. Now, not likely since I just had one." She yawned again. "Let me know when we get close to home. Aria will want to babble all day."
"I can do that." He drove off, glancing back now and then. He looked at the replacement agent. "That is Darcy Lewis. You were briefed earlier. She had a specialist appointment earlier."
"So she's a changer then?"
"We both are," Brock agreed. "So is her daughter. Half the team has another form of some sort."
"Oh. I didn't realize STRIKE did that."
"Alpha team does. Epsilon doesn't. Beta has one, and they're the medic and tech person." He shrugged one-sidedly. "We build teams that work and work well but consider whether you have one form or two afterward." He nodded. Brock could get a bit paranoid about him being one of the bigots but they'd end up locking him in a closet if they had to.
Darcy yawned and sat up then sighed and laid back down. "Turnpike?"
"Yup, to the exit by the house. That way it's safer from a road ambush. It'll take an extra twenty but you can nap it anyway, Lewis."
"Okay. Thanks." She drifted off again.
Brock smirked, shaking his head. "She snores just like her daughter," he said quietly. "Though Aria says that dragons don't snore, they purr." He looked at him. "By the way, there's a dog named Fennel. He's huge and happy and protective of the kid. Don't hurt the dog, it came from Asgard."
"Got it," he agreed. "Do we need to stop for supplies?"
"We've got a good camping area in an older nest cave. It's a burrow nest but it's safe, comfortable, and well insulated." That got a funny look. "There's the kid and her in the house. Us being in there would upset the kid. There's two spare apartments we run out to get showers from. It was that or camping in an old barn."
"Probably safer and easier in the nest then. Never been in one myself."
"This one is pretty old and very comfortable. Full base camp is set up in there plus sleeping places." That got a hum from the junior agent. Yup, he was probably going to cause a problem. Well, his team would gladly stomp on him when he did try to start something.
***
Darcy looked at the officer that stepped up to her in the grocery store a week later. "What's up, Officer Mel?"
"Someone made a claim that you're claiming relation to some terrorists."
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a sigh. "When my uncles started something, it was to stop wars going on. One had lost family in Korea and the other one lost his only son to Vietnam." That got a nod. "That group got taken from them, and from the one that took it from them, and became AIM."
"Wow. Okay."
"Remember hearing about Archie and Morty? Them."
"Oh! Yeah I heard a few things about mad geniuses."
"No, they considered themselves guys who tinkered in the garage. They were just exhausted with the US playing out the cold war by starting mini wars."
"That did suck," he agreed. "What were they to you?"
"Mom's uncles." She took out her notepad with her shopping list and a pen to draw on it. "Here. They're Aunt Emmaline's direct first cousins. That same generation. One of their sibs had my mom, who had me." She let him see it. "So they were great-uncles. I only learned about them by family stories but we've found a few of their things recently and AIM just found out that they had founders who weren't into the same thing they were. The new guy who just took over AIM wants to know what they hid from them after they got overthrown by one's ex-wife."
"Okay. So the guards you have?"
"To protect the sprout. Aria needs it."
"You could go home."
"I am home. I'm the clan's matriarch." She grinned. "And that means I have to live in the house."
He grimaced. "I don't know how that works."
"A lot of people don't." She shrugged. "That's more family politics than a lot of things in most cases." She pushed her cart on. "Anything else, Officer Mel?"
"They wanted to know what you had stored out there too."
She looked at him. "Family records mostly. I brought the first non-fiction book to come into the house in over eighty years."
"I think the locals are worried about what you're doing out there, Miss Anderson."
"No, Anderson was Aunt Emmaline. It was from her second husband. I'm fully a Lewis." She stared at him. "And if you're going to try something against the family, just don't. I don't need to go to war this month with her starting school soon." He scowled. She stared back. "Sorry but I don't and I will over my baby girl and my family." She gave him a pointed look. "You have a great day, Officer Mel." She walked off again, texting Jane to tell the agents. Because Jane could turn on the full security system with Aria's help. They had to find Aria, she was in the woods. Jane wrote back a note that Aria hadn't been found in about a half-hour of looking so she'd tell the agents looking for her. Darcy stared and got done, checking out and heading home. Someone was in her driveway and she looked at them. "Go away," she called. "Before I find Uncle Archie's tinkering stuff to blow you up."
The man smirked. "Those family records are most interesting, Miss Lewis." And just like that Darcy changed and burned him. He didn't even get to scream. The few agents in the house ran out and she stomped on them. One tried to set something off so she burned his hand with the switch. The small fire got started but she set off the fire suppressant system and it put it out. The remaining few agents stared at her. "Guys?" she called. "Where are we?" Jane came rushing out. "Here, tie them up for me, Jane?"
"Aria's not answering anyone's call in the woods."
"I can track her. Tie them up." Jane nodded, getting Darcy's rope stash to get them tied up. Darcy took off for the woods, following Fennel's scent. She found him, and he was injured. "Shit." One of the agents rushed over. "He goes to the vet in the next town," she said with a point. "Now. Jane has the AIM guys who tried to burn the house." She glared when he didn't move, but he did carefully pick up the wolf and bring him to the team SUV's. Darcy searched, finding Aria in a cave, pulling her out to cuddle. "It's all right."
"One of them hurt Fennel," she sobbed into her shoulder.
"Whoever it was is going to pay greatly, daughter. No matter who it was." Brock landed next to her. She stared at him. "So the cluster fuck of the day happened how? I got talked to by Officer Mel in town."
"One of the anti-changers from that town showed up to protest this being historically owned." She sighed but nodded. "He tried something and got taken off by someone. Not sure if that relief agent had something to do with it or not. I'm finding that out."
Aria glared at him. "One of you hurt Fennel!"
"One of the agents?" he demanded. "Who did it?" She shrugged. "Okay, I'll find that out too and stomp them into the ground for it." She nodded, going back to crying on her mother's arm. "Get her back to the house."
"That safe room won't last through a fire," she said quietly.
"We won't let that happen, Darcy."
"I had to stop it. They were in the house." He groaned. They went back together, her carrying her daughter. One of the AIM guys was free and trying to get something out of the car, which Brock landed on top of to smash it down.
Darcy handed Jane Aria and checked the house over. Some of the older family records were in the fireplace but the rest was safe. And then Darcy felt someone, most likely her cousin Melissa, trying to take the matriarch role from her. She concentrated and blasted that little brat into a coma for now. She'd deal with that when she calmed down. She was tired of this and the fussing of the other family that wasn't even hers.
Darcy cut them out of the family completely, only keeping Elaine. A few more showed up in the same light so she cut them out too. Her mother was throwing a fit, she could feel it through the family bond, but oh well. It was her family's problem anyway. Her mother tried to call. Darcy put the phone on speaker. "Mom, not right now. We're presently under attack thanks to your uncle's former creation. Please do yell at the spirit of your Uncle Archie for me, 'kay?"
She hung up and went to make sure the rest of the house was clear. She called Fennel's vet. "It's Darcy Lewis. Is he there yet and how is he?" She listened. "Okay, so went to the wrong vet? Please do go save him. I don't know. Aria claimed he got shot but I didn't sense any blood. No, we have idiots here. Thank you. I'll call in an hour or so. Let me calm Aria down." She hung up and went back outside. "House is clear outside the attic. I can't get up there in this form. If I could, Aunt Mary's armory is up there since that was her painting room."
Brock looked at her. "Let Rollins go look?" She nodded. "You go into the safe room, Aria. With your aunt Jane." Jane nodded, taking her in there with the spare phone. Darcy was growling. "You good?"
"They put Melissa up to take the vow today. During it."
"That's fucked up."
"She's one of the in-laws. I've cut them completely out, outside those kids and Elaine." She sat on her tail, looking at him. "So now what?"
"Now, we clean up the mess. Which officer?"
"Mel. New guy?"
"Went with them to the vet."
"They hit the wrong vet but mine knows so he'll go save Fennel from the other guy. Was that new guy part of this?"
"No. He doesn't understand, considers it very weird and slightly wrong, but he'd never do that, Darcy. And if I find out one of my team did have something to do with it, they're not going to make it." She nodded and laid down. "You relax for now. Let me handle all this."
"Please. And if my mother calls, ignore it. She tried to throw a fit."
"Great!" He went to do clean up the mess they had found started. The family records were removed from the fireplace and put on the couch out back for now in case they were a bit warm. The rest of the house was searched a second time and they were secure there. Rollins found the house map on the security system and found a few rooms of armory.
One was Aria's safe room so he left that alone after checking on Jane. The attic, he was amused at the artwork up there. And found the sliding panel for the armory. It wasn't huge but it was weird. And guns. He took pictures for Rumlow and looked at one gun, nodding at how used it was. It needed cleaned. The other armories had more recently touched weapons.
Still mostly dusty and could use cleaned. And a few more weird things. One large box he took outside to look at, and blew up the ground near that tree. He winced and the others moved to fix it. Aria would sob about the family tree too. They hated to see kids crying. Especially that one.
Rumlow hung up. "The backup already heading here will stop in to brief the local police for us. Fennel is fine, one agent headed there automatically because those two called in help for it. The actual vet has him and says he's just sedative darted. He's looking for any injuries." He took a deep breath.
"The plot by AIM may have just broken AIM's back because they were that dumb. We had their head guy here." They looked at the smoking remains of the head of AIM. Then at the ones they had retied up for Jane. There was probably two missing somewhere in the woods so he'd go hunt them down later. Darcy came out carrying Aria. "The vet has Fennel and said he's just napping, Aria. I called the agents that took him." She nodded, tucking her face under her mother's hair.
"Is it safe to go there?" she asked.
"Let me check your car." He looked at the tree then at her. Then at Rollins.
Darcy looked at him. "If you blew up that, you can fix it just like you did the car, without replacing it. They planted that tree in 1826 and each of us has climbed it at least once." She went to the car with Brock following. He cleared the car of any explosives but held Aria while Darcy started it just in case because she was paranoid. She got Aria into her car seat and got back in to drive to the vet's.
Brock looked at Rollins. "Pick a better, scrawny tree."
"Yeah, I didn't mean to hit near the tree. It skews left."
"Figures." He came to look at it, aiming for a forest tree. It destroyed two of them to the left. "Good to know." Rollins nodded. "Fix the tree."
"Fine." He went to check it with the other guys not guarding the AIM people. Maria Hill got out of the first SUV that pulled in. "She took the sprout to safety at the vet's since the dog had to go."
"That's safe," she agreed. "What happened here?"
"Well, that charcoal briquette used to be he head of AIM," Brock said with a point. "They wanted into her uncle's things and tried to burn the family records." Hill winced at that. "It got stopped, Hill. We have the agents here in custody. A local officer tried to talk to Darcy about those same uncles in the grocery store. They darted or something Fennel to get him away from Aria." She winced again. "The kid's fine. Bit traumatized."
"Figures. I would be too even if I wasn't five." She looked around. "It's pretty here."
"Her family has owned it since the late seventeen hundreds."
"That's a family heirloom then." She sighed. "Give me a full brief on what's been going on."
"We haven't really seen AIM outside that one guy. A few bigots. One teenage couple thinking it was sweet to go hide in a nest to have their first time together. Nothing bigger than that one AIM guy."
"And now, you had a lot of AIM." She looked at the cowering people. "What happened to the dead ones?"
"Lewis got mad that they were threatening her family."
"Shit."
"I landed on top of the AIM SUV. Sorry it may have to be towed." Hill looked at that partially smashed SUV. "We got back from finding the kid to find one had gotten free and was getting something out of the back."
Rollins came out of the house with the cordless phone. "Her mother wanted to know what happened."
"Tell her to wait, Darcy's with Aria helping Fennel, and we've handled the idiots her uncles started."
Rollins repeated that. Then he replied who he was to tell her that. She hung up. "She's not happy that SHIELD is here or that we're blaming her uncles."
"I can understand wanting to fight against the wars going on," Brock said. "The ones who took it over on them, not so much."
"Why?" Hill asked.
"They started it to fight back against the mini cold war wars going on."
"Oh, that reason. That was a good reason to start something like AIM would've been. I can only imagine they'd be more humanitarian if they were like Lewis." Her agents gathered the arrested ones, and the parts of the others, and one even scooped up the charcoal remains of the other one. "Which one was he?"
"We were in the woods getting Aria to safety." He called up the security cameras they had installed, letting her see it. She blinked at what Lewis landing on someone did to them. And Rumlow landing on top of the SUV. "So I'm guessing that's the head guy now?"
"He was third-in-command but wanted to move up. Pity about him." She made that note on the report. "The local officer was not involved, but he was one of those who hated changers so they used him to waylay Lewis so they had more time. The agent there to pass on reports said that he's retired before he confessed about why he was retiring. He didn't want the kid hurt, even if she was a part-time dragon as he put it."
"Lewis will listen to an apology but I doubt it should be soon," Rollins said as he came over. He tested the new thing he had just found in the kitchen on the AIM car. It sort of...sucked in on itself and became an unrecognizable ball of what looked like melting plastic. "Huh."
"Would she let us test those weapons they tinkered into being?" Hill asked.
"I can ask," Brock said.
She looked at him. "Why did half of New York want you to date her?"
"Some seer said that we'd be good together and any kids we had would be strong. Pushed it as a new era of strength and protection." Hill slumped. "Lewis likes me fine but she's not into guys like me, Hill. Or if she was, she's hidden it pretty well. She doesn't even usually want help for heats." He shrugged. "That's all up to her. I'd flirt but she's not made herself seem receptive."
"She stares at your ass when you walk away from her," Jack Rollins said with a shiteating grin. "We thought you two could make it too."
"If she'd let me, I'd gladly flirt. I like her and the kid. Of course, I'd have to give up my job because I can't commute in daily from here." Hill stared at him. "I can't."
"An hour isn't an unheard of commute," she noted. "Just not within STRIKE. Unless you become their senior agent and therefore handler and oversight." He shrugged. "You'll let me know if I need to make that personnel change." She looked over as Lewis drove back in with the kid and the big dog. "That is one huge beast," she said quietly.
"That's Fennel. He came from Asgard and Lady Sif," Rollins said, walking over to help by picking up Fennel for the ladies. "He good?"
"Sedated," Darcy sighed. "Bit of a scratched spot from falling onto the woods floor." She took him from him. "C'mon, kiddo, we'll let you both rest on the couch."
"We moved those records onto the back porch in case they were still a bit warm," Jack said. "They only had one box out."
"Yeah, those were hereditary files on the family's lines." She grimaced. "That way he can't talk about my birth father." She carried Fennel into the house with Aria following to curl up on him.
Thor landed with a thump and a bit of ground shaking. "Darcy?" he called.
"In the house," she called back. She smiled at him. "Hey, Thor." She gave him a hug. "Aria was trying to hide when AIM got here and they sedative darted Fennel."
Thor looked at Aria. "I'm sure he would rather it be him than you." She burst out in tears.
"Thor, she's a little girl!" Darcy complained, picking her up to hug her. "She doesn't need to worry more about people like that coming for her!"
"Sorry, I was trying to ease her pain, not make it worse." He patted Aria on the back. "He was not truly hurt, Aria. He would not want you to cry so." She glared but wiggled down to hug her friend and cry on him. Thor sighed, looking at Darcy. "I did not mean harm."
"I know, Thor. It's been an ass of a day."
"I had heard. What has happened?"
"My mother's uncles started a group that became AIM."
"I remember fighting some of them. Very weird weapons, often built off alien ideas."
She nodded. "The uncles started it to fight back against those people who were starting pointless wars to fight the cold war." He nodded at that. "And then they got AIM taken from them by the current people. They wanted to see what the uncles had stored here. They got with some local bigots who hate changers to help them."
"That is foul. Are you and Aria well?"
"We're both about ready to cry again. It's been a horrible day and I'm about ready to lose my temper and go take them the fuck over so I can stomp them all." She stared at him.
He gave her a nudge. "I will sit with Aria. You go hug the commander for a bit, let him calm you down. You are good enough friends for him to fill in for what a true mate would give you."
"We're not like that!"
He stared at her. "There are not many ways of ending post battle stresses, especially when you feel another coming. I know I could still go to Jane for mine. The same as he would gently hold you while you cried and raged about this if you asked." She walked off shaking her head. He picked her up to carry her out there, handing her to Brock. "She is in the post battle rage that you get when you know more is coming but now is already hard." He went back up there. "I will watch Aria and her friend Fennel." Personally he thought it cute that Aria had named him so close to his father's name.
Brock looked at Darcy then pulled her closer to hold. "Shh. Calm it down. Cry for now, then you can go throw a fit in the woods where Aria won't see and be scared." She shook her head but he stroked over her hair, making her relax enough to be able to cry. Hill walked away, letting him handle it. He ended up sitting down with her when she seemed to collapse.
***
Darcy brought a tupperware storage tub out later that night, handing it to Jack. "Do not use it on my car, the house, the tree, or any nesting cave. Or you get to rebuild it by hand." She walked off. "Tell them if they come back again, I'm going to find worse and use it on them. I'm tired of having to protect people and if I have to do it one more time I'm going to just destroy everything and then laugh as I finish going evil."
He nodded, taking it to look at outside the nest they were borrowing. The two things in there were small but looked ominous. He took them to test on the woods across the road, which weren't owned by anyone. The first was the lesser looking weapon and it vaporized a good swatch of trees. He put it back carefully and looked at the second one. He didn't want an accident so he looked at the plans underneath them. And the thing hidden underneath the plans was something cringe-worthy. It was a signet ring on a claw. He'd leave that alone for now.
The other weapon he tried on some other trees. The land nearly boiled under him and did boil under those trees. He had to move the tub, himself, and the weapons very fast to save them all. It dented the road too but it ended just past the driveway. He carefully put that back in the box after making sure it wasn't warm. He put the lid back on and turned to look at the rest of his team watching him. "There's a signet ring in there too. Not sure if she meant to hand me that."
Brock nodded. "We can use those." He grinned. Jack handed over the tub then got out of the way as more of the road heated and got soft. They helped him to a more steady bit of ground. They did report that they had tested an AIM level weapon on the side of the road and melted it some, and promised to have it fixed. Hill got film their medic had taken. Her answer back to Doug was swearing a lot to let Stark have those.
Brock answered that they were asked to kindly take them to AIM to talk to them about leaving her and the kid alone. Then Stark could have it. They went back to the nesting cave to safely store those with the compressing thing, and Brock took out the signet ring to look at, taking it up to the house to hand back. "Was in the bottom of the tub." He kissed her on the cheek. "Don't use the far side of the road for a bit. Jack melted it." He left her to sit with Aria and Fennel, who was being cuddled by them. Thor was resting on the couch reading something for now.
Tony Stark landed in his suit and stepped out of it, staring at them. "Hill had a hissy fit about weapons." Doug came out to show him the video. "Damn."
"Lewis' uncles," Brock explained.
"Super damn. I had no idea she could do that."
"She used to be into chemistry but got burned out."
"Figures. So many with good skills do." He took the phone to rerun the video. "Great. So we need to hide those."
"She asked that we take them to AIM to make sure they never want to come near her again," Brock said smugly. "You can have them afterward."
"I think I'll go along to make sure they don't disappear or get broken too hard, Rumlow. Just in case you understand."
"The more the merrier. AIM hates you too, Stark." He walked off happier. That meant he didn't have to ask for backup this time. "Your teammate's helping guard the ladies and the wolf because he got sedative darted earlier."
"That blows," Stark said. "The kid okay?"
"Still mostly crying that he got hurt," Rollins said. "He woke up fine and they've been cuddling him a lot."
"That's what girls do. That's why they're girls," Stark said. That got a nod from a few of the SHIELD guys. "Let me see if I can bum a couch on the porch." He went up there, looking at Darcy. "Let me help deliver the message?"
"Sure," she said with a grin. "Computer over there, file on them." He went to look at it, then moaned a few times at what he read. She grinned when Tony looked at her. "They wanted peace."
"We'd all like peace and every warrior really wants it too," Tony assured her. "We can make sure they don't come back. That tree?"
"Biggest family heirloom. Rollins needs to finish fixing where he set off something near it."
"Yeah, I'll have someone help him. We have some biologists at Stark." Darcy beamed at him for that. "How old?"
"It was planted in 1826 and every single kid in the clan has probably climbed it at least once."
"That's a good family heirloom. Better than a tacky mansion my parents left me." He went to check the tree. "Let me call a biologist to get you help shoring it up." Rollins grinned and nodded so he sent that back to his lab people. They suggested an arborist and one knew a good tree company. They'd come look at it. Maybe they could dig down and plant the roots deeper again. If they found something, Darcy would appreciate the family history and probably rebury it underneath the tree again.
***
Brock came back from...talking to AIM. He walked into the house and presented Darcy with the peace treaty. "They decided that your family being altruistic was not their way and they were sad your uncles were that way, but they would not make you change to closer to their ways. That they were incredibly sorry they had made your little girl paranoid. And that they had made you destroy people. They'd like to commemorate it by this peace treaty. They will never come here again."
Darcy looked at him. "Did you destroy all their things in front of them?"
"Did you want me to?" he quipped with a grin.
"Usually those sort don't give up or apologize."
"They're incredibly sorry because their whole organization got destroyed and then ...well, Jack really liked that thing that destroyed the road."
She shook her head but took it to read, then kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Brock." He grinned. "You protected my nest very well."
"You're welcome." He took a real kiss. "Stark has both of those things to study in case someone else figures it out."
"I know he won't use it randomly unless SHIELD tries to steal from him again."
"Probably not." He pulled her closer, making her look at him. "Can I be flirty?"
"I wouldn't mind but I'm not thinking in terms of mates."
"I never think in terms of the lesser step, Lewis." She blinked at him. "I'm a marriage minded sort of guy." He kissed her again. Aria giggled. "Sorry, didn't know she was here."
"That was probably Thor chasing her around the yard while Fennel sits on the porch. He's pouting that Thor took his spot."
"Thor has to go home sometime. Fennel shouldn't worry his little girl would abandon him."
Darcy looked and grinned. "Fennel, get the Aria. She wants to play." The wolf got up and went to play with his human. Thor let him have her and that was great. She squealed and hugged him then ran off so he could chase her. She had to stop to cry on him again because he could catch her but that was her being a girl. Then they went back to playing. The guy in the woods who wanted to take down Fennel got stopped by the agents holding a gun to his head. He decided to give up and go home. Thor settled on the porch to watch them play. Aria headed for their tree and Fennel followed. It was a bit wobbly so she carefully settled on her branch and let him settle on top of her, not even minding that she had a face full of fur again.
Darcy looked at Brock, who was still holding her. "Are you still being flirty?"
"Yes. Unless you mind?"
"No, I don't mind. Sometimes being held is a great thing." He pulled her closer, just holding her for now. She relaxed finally. It may fully be over with. "Is it done?"
"Yeah. All you have to worry about is bigots and your family."
"I told them all off earlier on conference call when they called up to complain about the tree being hurt. When I told them why, Mom suddenly shut up quickly. The plots to take it from me stopped even faster. Melissa finally woke up and realized she wasn't involved in this family any longer. Then the rest decided they were going to quit before I stripped the family of everyone not like me.
"I did note that the family heirlooms here needed to be cataloged and I'd be selling certain things because the house needs some repairs and the land taxes had to be paid soon. And I pointed out that three years without paying them meant that I could take them over.
"Celeste tried to say something about that land she sold off so I told her how I had handled it since that cave specifically has a lot of Native cave drawings and might be considered historically important. She huffed but said the young guy would probably sell it to me after all. He was looking to join the Marines."
"That does a lot of young guys some good," he agreed, kissing her again. "Did you arrange that?"
"The local historical society wanted to get it instead. When I pointed out it was a family owned nesting cave they protested but I said they could take pictures but not destroy things. That the aunt who had given it to them wasn't supposed to and the one who had sold it was even worse and not part of the family any longer. They agreed they could like to take cave pictures and look at any other marks up there. I really should go dig up the few dairies that have ended up there but they said if they found something modern they'd just put it aside for us while they studied."
"That's good. So it'll still be yours."
"Yup, and I got to yell at Aunt Emmaline because she was the one forgetting to pay the land taxes that made me do it. She suggested I find some job locally. So I'm back to being Jane's paid intern." She grinned.
He kissed her again. "That's always a nice thing. You got bored a lot."
She looked at him. "Is this a last one for the road?"
"No." He stared at her. "We aren't leaving for a week. Ask me next week." She poked him but he smirked. "This is I'm still strung up from the fight and you look sexy."
"I look sexy often."
"I've noticed that. Can Thor watch her?"
"Aria, I'm going to lay down for a bit," she called.
"Okay, make giggly noises with the den daddy guy," she called back then laughed.
"My daughter is a tiny bit warped," she quipped but he laughed and led her to the bedroom to tease her until she finally pounced.
***
Brock came back before the holidays, staring at the kid staring at him. "Hey, kiddo."
"Is there more mean people?"
"Nope. Came to talk to your mom. How's Fennel?"
"He's good." She let the dog out to let him pet him. She grinned. "Mom's out with Auntie Jane. I just came back to get the phone. Grandma wanted a call." She waved the phone. He texted Darcy and she came back, shaking her head on the walk. "Let me go talk to Auntie Jane. This looks like adult stuff and the other kids think adult stuff is gross." She and Fennel ran off to Jane's lab.
Darcy looked at her daughter's back. "Quit telling the other kids stuff and they'll quit being grossed out." Aria grinned at her and waved before disappearing. She looked at Brock. "More problems?"
"Two things." He held up a note. "From Fury." She took it with a sigh. Then groaned. "Yup, some of your former in-laws were behind the AIM stuff showing up here." He licked his lips. "One kid ended up having to be switched around to different parents." He sighed, staring at her. "They finally figured out a new stepparent that wasn't going to be arrested after the third try."
"Shit. Madeline?"
"Yup."
"Mom has her."
"I heard." He grinned slightly. "Is that why she wanted a call?"
"Maybe. I haven't talked to her recently." She shifted her stance to lean toward the right. "What's the other big problem that brought you all the way out here?"
He held up a handwritten note on heavy paper. "Any idea why I got asked to go to Norway?"
She looked at it then at him. "Tell Granddad I said hi?"
He blinked a few times. "What now?" She nodded. "Shit! Why?"
"No idea. I've sent a few letters about Aria but he's not real chatty."
"Do you think he heard that seer's crackhead ideas?"
"That could be." She shrugged. "But do tell him we said hi. I'll get you a recent picture. He hasn't gotten one in about ten months." She went inside to get a hard copy of one and came to hand it over with a smile. "Have fun up there. There's a hike by the way."
"I figured there was. It's halfway up an uninhabited mountain." She grinned and nodded. "How did you do that with the kid?"
"She was mostly napping in the bag. She did that a lot because she hated the snuggli I got. She was the most anti-cuddly baby ever."
He smiled. "Okay. I'll tell him you said hi."
"Have fun."
"I will. If it is that?"
"Let me know."
"I can do that." He smiled. "You guys okay?"
"Mostly. Aria likes school. It lets her talk and play with other kids. The teacher thinks she's a smartass. She brought Fennel in on pet day and the teacher was horrified but Fennel played with the other pets very well. He herded the cats that came in too but he was gentle and cuddly with them. I had to warn him we didn't have stuff for cats. Still nearly came home with one that the kid almost forgot." He laughed.
"But they're doing good. The tree's solid again so they've been up it repeatedly. She wants to decorate it for the holidays instead of an indoor tree. I pointed out that meant she couldn't climb it for a while but she said she couldn't do it in the snow anyway." He snickered, nodding. "But yeah, they're good."
"Thanks, Darcy." He kissed her on the cheek and went back to the car. He drove off, letting Darcy handle her own kid.
***
Brock finally made it up to the cave. He hadn't been pushing himself but it was a gentle hike. He made sure he got his boots clean of the snow before stepping into the cave.
The woman coming out stared at him. "Do we know you, young man?"
He grinned. "I got sent here, ma'am." He held out the invitation.
She read it. "Oh, that's him." She came to the opening and pointed. "See that dark spot? That's his cave. He's in a bad mood today too."
"Thank you for the warning and the directions, ma'am." He smiled and took the invitation back, going up there.
"Such a nice young man. I wonder why that one sent for him?" She went back to talk to her son, who might know. The old one was his father, and he might've told him.
Brock made sure to clean his feet off again before walking in there. The old dragon stared at him. "You had me invited, sir?" He held out the picture. "Darcy said you hadn't gotten one recently."
The dragon took it to smile at. "That child is adorable." He put it on his desk area, looking at him. "You didn't bring them with you?"
"We're not together, no matter how often a certain seer tries. I like Darcy, a lot, and her kid's super sweet and mouthy, but I don't think she's into me all that much."
The dragon stared at him. "She's occasionally a very willful young woman."
"Who took the matriarch vows for the family in the last year."
The dragon nodded. "I heard and felt. It was good to hold the family together. Though I know she weeded out that tree."
"A few of the one she had to trim out went to a group called AIM, who're techno terrorists, to get her gone."
The dragon winced. "That poor woman. Is she all right?"
"Much better now. Aria just started school a few months back. She has a pet wolf friend from Asgard to help protect her. They're great together."
The dragon smiled, putting his head back down. "That's sweet. And that Darcy went to Asgard."
"Her boss Jane was dating Thor."
"Ahhhhh." He nodded. "The way that girl gets into things," he sighed. He stared at him. "Why does she hesitate on you?"
"Part of it is that I'm a different form of traditionalist. She got raised by the confederation council sorts and I was not one of them, ever. She's wary that I was taught to separate my dragon and human sides." The dragon nodded. "There's also my job, which is about an hour away from where they live. I could change job areas slightly to make that work but she's not real fond of SHIELD. I work for them."
He stared at him. "Why do you separate them?"
"I was taught that my true form was the dragon side, and the human was weaker and I only used it to deal with other people who don't understand. I had no idea that people who merged both sides at once could do that."
"That's a weakness brought on by those church sorts," the elder dragon said, staring at him.
Brock nodded. "I've learned a lot of that from Darcy. I think she's a great lady and a great heat partner once or twice, but she's kind of wary about a few things."
"What things?"
"The bone density stuff happened."
The dragon winced, but nodded once. "So she's suppressing her heats?"
"She's had to go on special medicines to help fight that. She's had a few heats thanks to defending Aria and regular ones, and just meditates them out."
"That is one stubborn granddaughter of mine." Brock nodded with a grin. "Do you like her?"
"I could come to like her. She's nice and sweet and a great mom. I'm not sure if I can stand that sort of laid back lifestyle that she lives with the kid."
"There's ways of leaving the matriarch's house."
"She said she could do it for seven days a year. Or more like nights but I have no idea how that works. I'm not a matriarch and I don't think my family has done that in generations."
The dragon nodded. "Many forgot the older ways." He sniffed him. "You have fouled the dragon."
"I went undercover to stop idiots with bad ideas. They gifted me with a serum to make me stronger and faster, plus it slows down my aging. Thankfully they're mostly gone. We got them put down."
"Which group?"
"HYDRA."
The dragon groaned. "Even I've heard of them." He stared at the young man. "We can train you to use your dragon the right way."
"I like learning whenever it's offered." He smiled a bit. "Can I teach others?"
"We'll see." He blew fire suddenly at Brock, taking his enchanted form back to the back of the cave. "We'll see. That seer had some interesting ideas. Darcy is a favorite granddaughter of mine and still a bit weird. She's also very perky." He put Brock down and breathed a cleaning fire on him to clean off all the weird things. Thankfully he didn't have anything like a phone on him. The simple bracelet got put aside before it burned him. Brock got forced to change and the elder dragon nodded that he approved. "Good. We can work with this."
***
Jack Rollins showed up a week later, slamming the SUV door as he got out. Darcy heard and came to the porch to stare at him. "Where did he go?"
"To Norway. He got invited to talk to a senior dragon elder." She sipped her coffee. "His consort called up night before last to talk to Aria." She grinned.
"So one of your family?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Grandma Rosie's former consort." She took another sip.
He walked up to stare at her. "Is he safe?"
"I haven't seen them in person since Aria was just under a year old," she said with a grin. "They thought it was delightful she hated to cuddle."
"So an actual old line dragon?" he asked quietly.
"I know about the two listening devices, Agent Rollins." She grinned. "They're both in the toilet."
"They have a few other ways trained out here."
"I figured that they did. Jane's about to destroy them though. It's making her even more paranoid than usual."
"Oh, great. I'll be waiting on how she does that." He stared at her. "Why did they ask to see him?"
"No clue. They didn't tell me." She shrugged with a grin. "Granddad is his own being and I think maybe he heard from that seer that said we'd be good and I'd have four more kids." Jack sighed but stared at her. She nodded. "Probably powerful ones."
He groaned but nodded. "All that pushing you two together."
"Yup." She finished her coffee and put the mug down. "I'm sure he's fine."
"I'd hope so but his life sign meter went off for a bit."
"That could've been some interference. There's some northern lights up there."
"Didn't think about that but we know he's alive. We can't get a GPS lock on him but we know he's alive."
"I doubt he would've called Brock up there to kill him. He doesn't usually interest himself in the local goings on outside the mountain goats that like to graze near him."
Jack sighed, staring at her. "Where is he?"
She grinned. "Can't tell you that. Sorry. Huge family secret because there's assholes who'd want to hurt him for existing. Including some on Asgard."
"Did they come from Asgard?"
"No. But Asgard hates that they happened down here. Apparently that's only for their peoples."
"Oh, charming. But figures I guess." He stared at her. "What if he needs help?"
"I'd guess the current grandma up there would do that." Jack looked confused. "He hates to see his consorts age."
"Oh."
"That's why Rosie was free to mostly raise me for my mom."
Jack tensed his butt cheeks. "She was a changer."
"Yup, and so was my dad, her son."
"Like a first generation changer?" he hissed, staring at her. She just smiled. "Fuck!"
"Yeah, my father is. Mostly in the head." She smirked. "But I can't tell you anything, Agent Rollins. I'm not going to endanger my family. I'd hate to go avenge them. I'd rather stay the happy, bouncy, flouncy, slightly wild woman I usually am."
"I'd hate you to do that too." He stared at her then at the dragon coming in to land. He didn't know her but Darcy went out to talk to her. The dragon nuzzled her when she changed her form. Jack just watched so he could make sure his teammate and friend could come back. And then there was a second dragon, one he'd seen many times. "Finally!" he complained, going to stare at Brock. "Your life sign monitor went off twice."
Brock stared at him. "Yeah, northern lights sort of interference. Why are we up here?"
"To find out where you were since you were considered missing in action. Fury nearly shit himself over this."
"Fury can bark."
"Or ...what sounds do deers make?" Darcy asked her new grandmother.
"Usually a squeal, dear." She nuzzled her granddaughter. "Is she in school?"
"Nope, hiding from me. She said the Growlies told her she was getting visitors today. Aria?" she called. "Fennel, bring Aria, she's got a visitor." She heard a bark and the dog came trotting out with Aria bouncing behind him. "Good boy, Fennel."
The elder female dragon sniffed noses with Fennel. "You do your line proud, son of Fenris." She nuzzled him with a smile. "Very good job." She nuzzled her granddaughter. "We have not seen you since before you could speak, Aria."
The little girl blinked at her. "Are you a grandma?"
"Remember how I told you about consorts and that being another level of Grandma?" Darcy said. Aria beamed and nodded, moving closer to talk to this new grandma. She looked at Brock. "You good?"
"Longer flight than I'm used to." He wiggled his arms but sighed, staring at her. "That seer did tell him." Darcy giggled. "And he said that bone thing would get healed faster in an easier way."
"Yes, we can teach you how to do that, Darcy." The elder dragon nuzzled her. "I had that too until I realized a few things."
"Is this Granddad's way of saying he wants more kids to meet?"
"Well, yes. He thinks you like being a mom."
"I do, but that's a lot of work."
The elder dragon smiled. "At least you have a lot more running water than a cave does, dear."
"True." She nodded, not rolling her eyes. "Someday."
"Oh, we know. We don't expect one this year." She grinned. "Maybe in two or three." She looked back as someone landed. "Pup," she said with a nod.
"Thor, this is my grandfather's consort, so my newest Grandmother."
Thor nodded at her. "Pleasure to meet you, ma'am. Darcy, where is Jane?"
"Out back but she's about to test something that will knock out all the satellite based spying going on." She grinned.
Thor sighed. "Heimdall sent down he was worried about her current research." Darcy waved a paw so he went to talk to her, petting Fennel on the way. Aria ran over to give him a hug then came back to talk to this grandma. Darcy reminded her she couldn't tell anyone about it when she babbled about her friends. The older one smiled at her for that.
Brock looked at Darcy, nuzzling her gently with his head. "Hey." She looked at him oddly. "Can we talk?"
"I guess." She walked over to him, changing back to human. Brock did the same thing. She could tell the difference in his skin. "So Granddad straightened that out?"
"He did. He reamed me a new one a few times over things. Including to quit ignoring my mother." She laughed, staring at him. He pulled her closer. "I got told why she suggested me."
"I talked to her before we moved up here. The idea of four more kids creeped me out a bit."
"Me too. One more, maybe two."
"One was a set of twins."
"That only happens when you nest with an egg," he said, staring at her. She nodded. "Huh." He kissed her. "May I try?"
"You'd have to come up here more often."
"Yes I can. We can work on that?"
"If you want."
"Good." He kissed her again, looking down at the staring kid. "Your granddad suggested I should date your mom. That good with you?"
"I guess but we have to talk about it."
"Of course we will," Darcy agreed. "Go talk to Grandma." Aria rushed back to talk to her about more stuff. Her grandmother didn't watch tv. That was kind of weird to her.
Brock grinned. "You've done a great job with Aria."
"Thank you." She smiled. Around them a heat shimmer went off and things got zapped. "If you destroyed the tv or computer, or the security system, you'd better turn it back on," she yelled.
"We can check, princess." He took her inside to check on things. They went to talk to Jane about the security system so she let those go back on. And the tv and computer before things drove the kid or Darcy nuts. He came back, looking at the elder female dragon, who was smiling at them. He looked at Darcy. "Did you know they were matchmakers?"
"Granddad said he believed in soulmates." She relaxed, watching her daughter chat happily. She had missed having a grandmother she could talk to. She blinked when Aria changed then changed back without realizing it. She looked at her grandmother, who nuzzled Aria. "That's really young," Darcy said quietly.
Brock nodded. "It was. Aria, do your legs or arms hurt?" he asked.
"My head is kind of funny but I'm okay." She grinned then pounced her grandma for a hug around the neck. "You're a neat grandma. Can you do emails?"
"We don't have a computer, dear. Or a phone really." Aria pouted. "But you can send a friend over there letters when you can write." Aria beamed and nodded, changing back again then getting stuck on the way back. She squeaked and fixed that, going back to full on dragon. Darcy sighed, going over to help her daughter. She came out with the normal scale-like skin Darcy had.
The older one, she was amused and thrilled. She talked Aria through the details of being a young woman dragon. Darcy coughed at one point, staring at her. That got an eyeroll but she changed topics with the girl. Aria curled up next to her in dragon form, chatting about the big girl topics she was learning about.
Brock looked at Darcy. "Just think, making her a big sister will make her squeal for weeks until she has to deal with the actual baby."
"Some girls don't like dolls, including her," Darcy quipped. "She'd pout."
He nodded. "It's handleable." He pulled her closer to stare at her. "I was shown why they think we'd work. And they're right." She smirked at him. "But I'm still into dating."
"I'm leaving that up to you. I'm not against dating, if it actually happens." He smirked, pulling her closer.
"Does that mean I have to take over the team?" Jack Rollins complained.
Brock looked at him, nodding. "Probably. I'll be the oversight officer. So in the field about half the time." Jack groaned but agreed with a sigh. He looked at Darcy again. "Want to go make dinner?"
"I can set up a spit."
Her grandmother looked over. "I can change for dinner, dear. You don't have to build a firepit." She looked at Aria, who was all but asleep. Fennel was sitting nearby staring at his little girl. She smiled at the wolf. "She's the same girl she was, even if she is scaley, dear. Don't you worry about that." She nuzzled him, getting lapped back. She changed, carrying the little draglette inside with Fennel following to nap with her. She came to talk to Darcy and Brock, and Jack because he was Brock's best friend. He seemed very nice.
***
Epilogue:
***
It had been a long year of dating. There'd been a lot of adjustments, some fighting. A lot of Brock being slightly resentful that his new job was less intense and less time consuming, and less physical. Darcy had let him set up a gym in the back of the house, in a spare bedroom no one liked to use because it had no windows and was next to the laundry room.
There had been some adjustment from Aria too. She wasn't used to it being more than them and Jane anymore. She settled in well enough but pouted a lot when Brock was too busy to read to her. Even though Darcy reminded her she could do it too, she wanted Brock to read to her.
Fennel was happy because Brock helped Aria brush him most weekends and he could go for a run in the woods with him. Aria pouted a bit about that too but Brock told her she could start to run with him. She thought that was a lot like exercise so she refused. Darcy had giggled in the other room while they had that talk. Aria had started to take over his exercise bike to read on while she peddled. She couldn't ride a bike, had horrible balance when she tried, so a bike she couldn't tip over was fun to her. Even if it didn't go anywhere.
But they had worked it all out. Everything had settled down. Brock hadn't started a fight in four months. Darcy hadn't started a fight about feeling crowded in three. So it was going well. Brock decided maybe it was time to move to the consort step. Darcy still wanted a mate step like an engagement that humans had. He understood that but it made his scales itch. That was the topic of their last fight actually.
Darcy came in that night, not tired for once that week. Aria had been fussy and had a cold. Fennel was even tired of her fussing and had laid on top of her head last night to make her quit sneezing. Then he had realized she sneezed into his fur and he hated that more, going to whine to Darcy to clean it up for him. She had gotten his fur all pretty and he went to sleep on the couch instead of with his little girl, which made her fuss even more and cry a bit then climb out to go chase him down and nap on him like usual.
Brock looked up from reading in bed naked when Darcy came in pulling down her hair. "She down?" he asked.
"Thankfully she is." She sighed, laying next to him. "Her cold is almost gone. Jane's agreed she can babysit this weekend at least one night and day so we'll get some rest."
He put down his book, putting aside his glasses to look at her. "Just rest?"
She blinked at him. "Huh?"
"I was thinking maybe we could do something?"
"The diner in town's shut down and the movie this week isn't something you like."
"Not what I was thinking, Darcy." He stared at her. She blushed, staring back. "Hmm. Go for a fly with me?"
"I..." She sighed. "That is tradition."
"It is," he agreed with a grin. "I've teased you a few times."
"That means we've got to do the tea thing too."
"Tea...oh, you learned that one. I'm more used to ceremony, happy parents, disappearing to somewhere to start with the oiling."
"Ah. I was taught the tea ceremony and no parents until the next day. Too many have been interrupted by non-happy parents."
"Point," he agreed. "I can see that. Mom would like to see us in the next week sometime."
"I'm not against that. Your mom's good and loves Aria."
"I'll ask her if she'll babysit if you want. She'll sob all over us."
"I don't think I can handle more crying. And she's kind of scared of some of the neighborhood ladies there. We'd get a call crying to come pick her up. And we can't bring Fennel thanks to that one guy."
"That's an uncle and I've already stopped his bad ideas. And about Aria marrying someone in the family. Thankfully he probably won't be alive when she's old enough." She grinned. "But Fennel would have a problem with him." He looked back at the opening door. "What's up, Fennel?" He came in to woof at them then stared. Darcy got up to let him show her what was wrong. Darcy moaned loudly so he got up to check, putting on some sweat pants in case he ran into the kid too. "What happened?"
"Jane's lab has a huge bubble of glow around it. She's running a test without warning."
He looked and sighed, calling out there. It startled Jane and the glow ended. "You just worried Fennel that we're being invaded. Are we?" He listened. "Uh-huh. We could see you through the trees, Foster. You had a sunny glow going on, only in a pearly white. It looked like what some people said the Reaping looked like. Yeah, when all the holy are recalled to heaven sort, Foster." He blinked a few times. "Can you maybe do that when the kid's not in the house? Thanks!" He grinned and hung up. "She'll do it tomorrow while Aria's in school."
"What is she doing? She's working on three different ideas."
"Intergalactic shipping."
"Like packages or like relationships?"
"I think relationships. She was saying she'd get to see him again and he was most happy if she'd get it done finally."
"She's dating Loki," Darcy mouthed. They knew there were still some bugs around here. He moaned, but nodded at that. "So yeah, he probably would be." She petted Fennel. "Thank you for telling us, Fennel. We'll talk to the Jane tomorrow. Good boy." He barked happily and went back to sit with his girl to watch over her. "Nap, Fennel. She's got school tomorrow." She led the way back to the bedroom, shutting off lights on the way.
Brock rechecked all the doors and windows down there before following her. The school was a mile away so they had to drop Aria off in the morning, which he usually did on his way to work. Darcy climbed onto the bed and flopped down face first. Brock grinned, climbing in beside her so she could cuddle. She always cuddled. She shifted to put her face on his shoulder, letting him wind her into his arms. "So, tea?"
She blinked up at him. "You hate tea, right?"
"Not always. Sometimes it's necessary."
"There is a wine version now thanks to some Greek and Italian dragons back in the early renaissance."
"I could like that more. Do I need to pick up anything?"
She nodded, pulling his phone over to look up that wine and the cups they'd need. "We have one in the family but it's cracked."
He kissed her on the forehead. "I can find that." He took a real kiss. "Rest, Darcy. You've worn yourself out with her being sick and Jane being pouty." She nodded, yawning into his throat. He smiled as she fell asleep, looking at that wine. It wasn't one he'd heard of. "I'm wondering if that's the only type allowed," he said quietly. She hummed, blinking at him. "No reds?"
"Reds are for the blood binding." She put her head back down, drifting off again.
He kept in the moan. That was a huge step they may never be ready for. So yeah, he'd be fine with a white wine.
***
Brock walked into the wine shop he liked to use near his mother's house. He was about to head home. "Hey." The two sales clerks smiled at him. "Darcy said to pick up some of this," he said, showing that off on his phone.
"That's a traditional thing," one said with a smile for him. "It's got a funky front taste and mellows after the second drink to something melony sort of. But the first sip is bitter to remind you that a marriage isn't always happy."
"Okay. Is there another one that's more traditional? She vetoed the reds and told me why."
"Some have been using a pretty California white that's not dry and is still fairly mellow. The traditional is about six hundred for a bottle. The new one is about thirty."
He called. "Babe, there's two versions. A modern that's a California that doesn't have the up front bitterness and the old style one that's fairly rare."
"And this year's was the worst one since last year," the other clerk agreed.
"The one we've been liking is a Pinot Grigio and Viognier blend, but it brings out the citrus notes in the PG and the Viognier is a bit more soft and fruity so it's a well balanced and not dry white." He led him to a bottle he liked. "This one is a bit more expensive and not traditional but it is one that we recommend because the other two have a heavy taste that doesn't go excellently with the traditional meats and berries."
Brock must look confused. "If they're doing it this way, it's a very traditional thing. In the old days, she'd have hunted for the meats and berries served. Then the wine ceremony with the tiny little pastry bites. That's supposed to inflame you enough that you go right to the oil and then the flying."
"I'm more used to the modern, US version," he admitted quietly. "But that's good to know. I wonder what she's doing for that. She can hunt, but there's nothing near us." He sighed. "Yeah, that may work. Give me two bottles?" He showed him the price. "I can put it up for our anniversary?"
"It'll store nicely in the usual manners." He brought up the two bottles. Brock stopped at the wine glasses, staring at them. None of them seemed right.
"Might I suggest you go to the crystal shop?" Brock stared at him. He nodded. "Not modern wine glasses, they're too thin. It'll do well with the wine but you want something heavy and that could be a chalice."
"I know her family has one but it's cracked."
"Modern wine glasses don't crack, they break. Or let her pick that out?"
"I can probably do that." He paid for the wine, and a handmade date bar they sold. They put the wines into a cardboard carrier and handed it over once he had paid. "Thank you." He carried the wines out, running into his sister. He kissed her on the cheek, making her blink at him. "Picking up some wines."
She looked at them then at him. "Since when do you drink whites?"
"She asked for a special dinner."
She stared at him. "Are we going to have to nag about a church wedding? You know Ma wants one."
"Not sure yet," he admitted. "I haven't asked."
She hit him on the arm but rolled her eyes. "Dumbass." She smiled. "I hope it's a cute thing she wants to make for you. You're coming to talk to Ma soon?"
"Next weekend, with the kid but not the dog."
"Good idea. She okay?"
"Aria? She's great. Just over a cold. Darcy's a bit stressed. Jane's been testing again."
"Eww. So have fun." She smiled and hit him on the arm again before walking off with her boyfriend. She smiled at her boyfriend. "Darcy's from Virginia."
"They do things a bit differently in the south."
"I think Darcy's family does things a lot more differently since she's one of the ones that studied the original ways before changers were started."
"Oooooh. I didn't take her for that sort."
"She's not. She's definitely not the submissive wife sort that the locals think came from history. Apparently back then, women were matriarchs and in control of the nest." She patted him on the arm. "Then the weaker males wanted to be like the Roman guys who were trying to suck up to 'em according to her."
"So she's studied actual early dragon history?"
"Yup. She's a political science sort." She shrugged. "She's super nice and a good mom."
"Did she have a former mate?"
"No, she has an asshole who stole her suppressant patch one day to fuck her up," she said quietly, staring at him. "On the college campus." He shuddered. "Yeah. But she's never held it against her little girl. She's such a good mom to her little girl. Ma was so happy with that and hopes for later grandkids to join her."
"She mentioned it to me too."
She smiled and nodded. "Some year, not yet."
"Gladly." He pulled her closer to get her away from someone walking while on their phone. "Do you think they'll get to the old way of flying instead of just mating while oiled up?"
"Possibly. I know there's a tea thing instead of a wedding." He nodded he got that. "Not sure how it goes after that. It's not done in front of the family. You can ask Amber. Her first marriage was one of those."
"No thanks. That's a bit intrusive, and not my style." He smiled. "We can have a church wedding when we get to that point."
She nodded. "That's good. Next year maybe?"
He stared at her, grinning some. "Are you that rushed?" he teased.
"Yes. It'll mean the aunts will quit nagging."
"I told them last time if they didn't quit I'd dump you and leave you to some dirty dragon on the street. They shut up for the rest of the dinner."
"I wondered about that silence." He grinned.
***
Brock put the wine next to where she was cooking, letting her stare at them. "That's what they suggested there."
"Arabella said those are nice. She had one of those instead of the traditional one, which had a bad year last year." She smiled, taking a kiss. "Thank you for picking those up. I have no idea where to get wine. Put them in the cabinet for now? We can chill it that day."
"Okay." He did that for her. Then he came back. "I looked at glasses but they suggested we go to something crystal?"
She smiled. "Let me finish her tacos?"
"Of course." He helped her by cutting up the vegetables for salsa. She had mixed masa and made her own tortillas on the flattop pan. Aria liked them that way so they happened infrequently but they were good. After Aria was down for the night, Darcy took his hand to walk him down to the basement and to the small cabinet in the wall. "We keep the family heirlooms here?"
"This isn't the original one in the family. That broke when we came over." He nodded he understood that. She pulled out a wrapped bundle, letting him have it to unwrap. He stared at the cup. "This is what we went to in the sixties."
"It's pretty," he said, looking it over. It had a chip on the rim and a small crack that didn't go all the way through. "Is this crystal?"
"It's like sixties glass. We never wanted real crystal for this. It'd be too thick to keep the wine at the right temp."
"I can agree with that." He handed it back. "Find me one I can pick up?"
She smiled. "I can do that too."
"The food? I got told you should hunt for it."
"I normally would but I'm going to totally not go farther than hunting at a meat shop. It's not a hunting time and I don't want to upset people by catching a deer and a bunny."
"I won't be upset at that. I have no idea how that's supposed to go, sweetheart. I've only seen the wedding with the tea in the center."
She shook her head with a sigh. "This is to prove I can provide for the family and make sure it's prosperous. It's supposed to be three things that are native to the area or your family's farm. Originally I'd go buy the animals from your family as part of the wedding or hunt on their lands for it to prove to them that I can take care of you appropriately. I'd cook it in their kitchen and then we'd go hide in the woods to do this." He grinned, pulling her closer to kiss the tip of her nose. "Then we'd end up in the nest area we set up together, house or not."
"I can see that. So should I expect something like deer?"
"Yes." She smiled. "I found a local one who raises them for meat. I don't have to not tell you if you want to know."
"Please. That way I'm not shocked by something?"
"I'm doing steak tartare with deer. I'm doing beef Korean style on a little grill so we cook it then, and I'm doing pork belly braised and roasted in plum sauce."
"That sounds a bit sweet."
"Asian plum sauce."
"Oh!" He smiled and nodded. "Less sweet but a hint of it."
"And the roasting will bring some of that out but it'll go well with the beef on the Korean grill."
"I can accept that. I heard rumors of little cookies?"
"It's almonds mostly. Browned almonds ground down into a paste, like dough paste not peanut butter paste, and you fill it with a few spices and a bit of bacon fat that's been rendered and smashed into a berry filling." She stared at him. "Not that sweet."
"That sounds ...actually that sounds nice." He grinned. "Better than wedding cake." She nodded with a grin. "Do I get to help you make them?"
"Aria gets to help me make them." She smirked. "Those you can't help with. You can help me pound the meat out if you want."
"I might do that." He cuddled her. "So we just need the new glass?"
"Please. And maybe candles."
"I can do that. Any particular? Fancy candles?"
"Lemon scented would be nice. They'll go well with things."
"I'll see what I can find."
"Don't worry about them being fancy, pagan working quality candles. They can be hallmark candles."
"That's easier to find." He took a kiss, rewrapping the glass and putting it back carefully. He stared at her because he wanted to know about his present he had coming. "The tradition is a necklace exchange."
"It is." She smiled, pulling him to the small safe in the basement to look in there and pulled out one. "That's yours." He opened it, staring at the fairly simple looking, diamond cut chain that had a single, non stone pendant. "It's obsidian. Obsidian, especially that piece, is lava that flows into water and cools off quickly to form the stone. It breaks into the sharpest flakes. People used to use flakes to shave with," she said, smiling at him. "Obsidian is always my mental mantra when I'm freaking out over something. I should be as strong and yet delicate as obsidian."
He kissed her, pulling her closer. "I adore that."
She touched the stone. "I bought that stone as a focus when I was sixteen, and the necklace my first semester in college." She smiled up at him. "It was the first thing I really put into my hoard for the future mate."
He smiled. "That's sweet and sentimental."
"When I thought I was going to mate mark Tommy, I didn't even think about pulling that out. I pulled out a more delicate gold chain because he always thought he'd break anything I gave him. It was deceptively delicate. He couldn't have broken it even if someone grabbed it."
"Was he...fragile probably isn't the right word."
"No, he was nineteen." She stared up at him. "When the attack happened, his first thought was 'how dare she do that to me' and then immediately went to 'I'll be a stepdad' and then went to 'shit, she needs to heal and not have me make it worse' so he calmed down by the time he saw me the next morning."
"Most guys wouldn't go that route," he said dryly.
"At nineteen a lot of guys do. Hell, there's plenty of guys at your age that do because they consider their wife to be their property, their possession."
"Most guys would've been more 'how can I help you heal'." He stared at her. "Even if there are assholes who dump a wife who's been assaulted." She nodded. "Is that a southern thing?"
"One of your mom's neighbors is getting a divorce because of that, Brock."
He huffed. "The ones on the right?" She nodded. "She said she couldn't stand to be touched but I agree that's his problem not hers. He shouldn't be pushing her to be touched or any intimacy after that until she's ready and she'll let you know."
"It took me over a year." She stroked his chest. "Jane helped me get over that."
He cuddled her, kissing her gently. "I would've offered to move into another room so you didn't have to handle that sort of idea yet. You'd tell me when you were ready to even hug and kiss again when you were ready after therapy to help." She snuggled into his arms. She smiled and kissed him deeply, making him moan. "I'd show you the necklace I have for you but it's in a bank."
"I'm fine with that." She snuggled into his chest, just leaning there. They both heard the crying and she closed the safe after putting the necklace back into it. They went up to check on Aria, who had a bad dream about someone attacking her dog. So they soothed her before going back to bed.
***
Changing Your Life.