It was late by the time Loki parked his car in the driveway. The lights in the house were off, Jessie must have already gone to bed.

Loki was about to activate the fob on his car keys to shrink down the car, but I asked him not to.

"The neighbours can't see your car shrink and grow, we are still bound by the rules of the Secret World, remember?"

"Actually, I am not," Loki grinned. "I never signed a contract nor swore any vow."

"Wel I did. Please, be good for me then?"

Loki shrugged and left the car where it was. It stood out like a sore thumb on the driveway of my little cottage. I could just imagine the talk in the village tomorrow:

"Did ye see that new flashy car Sorcha's new flashy fella's got?"

"Sorcha's got a new fella?"

"Ye haven't seen him? Posh git, walking with his nose in the air like he owns the place. Pale sort of feller, wears really expensive suits but can't seem to afford a haircut."

I grinned to myself. Let them gossip, I didn't care.

I opened the door quietly in the hope I wouldn't wake up Jessie, but she came running down the stairs the moment she heard the key in the door.

"Mom?" I held out my arms to give her a hug, but she barreled right past me and hugged Loki instead. "Loki! You are back!"

Loki looked at me over Jessie's head and patted Jess awkwardly on her back.

"Hello Jessie," he said. I grinned at him. We are a family of huggers, he'd better get used to it.

"I was so worried about you!" Jessie admitted.

"I'm fine, nothing I couldn't handle, really," Loki muttered.

I rolled my eyes at him and stuck out my tongue. Liar.

"Are you going to stay with us now?" Jessie asked.

"Eh, I'm not certain. Ask your mother."

"Can he stay with us now, mom?" Jessie turned and looked at me.

"Yes, can he?" Loki asked too, giving me his biggest puppy dog eyes. He truly is impossible sometimes.

I hid a grin.

"Fine, but if he makes a mess it will be your responsibility!"

Loki and Jessie beamed at each other, they were both familiar enough with my particular brand of humour to know the answer was 'yes'.

"I'll go and make us all hot chocolate," I smiled as I walked into the kitchen.

And that is how Loki moved in with us.

Most of his clothes were already here anyway, and I had managed to rescue the few belongings he had left behind at the apartment as well, including his Loki mug (or as he once called it; his most treasured possession). His clothes were a bit of a problem, as Loki found the next day.

"I can only fit half of my clothes in your wardrobe, it is impossibly small!"

"Then put the rest in the guest room," I thought it was a reasonable suggestion. It is what I had done in the first place.

"How did you manage to afford so many clothes on the pittance that the Templars paid you?" I had the sneaking suspicion Loki wasn't exactly a bargain hunter.

Loki frowned. "Better that you don't know, my dear. Don't ask questions you don't truly want an answer to."

"Loki!"

"I can make up a convincing lie if you want me to," he smiled sweetly.

"This simply won't do. We need a bigger wardrobe."

"You need fewer clothes."

"I need more clothes and a bigger wardrobe," Loki said decisively.

"Not on my salary you don't." I shook my head.

"You are right of course, time I started contributing. Fancy a trip to Switzerland, my dear?"

And thus I found myself at a bank in Zürich less than an hour later. Loki had expertly chauffeured us from the nearest Agartha entrance into the city itself, music blasting loudly as he zigzagged through the traffic.

I thought it was a bank at least, but it wasn't like any of the banks I had ever visited. No rope line for a queue and tired looking cashiers behind plexiglass were to be seen here.

The whole place would be best described as "discreet". There was no sign on the building outside, and inside was posh, with thick carpets on the floors and art lining the walls.

We were led into a private waiting room with beautiful heavy antique furniture and were offered tea in fragile china cups as we waited.

I didn't drink the tea, I didn't even dare to lift the cup. It looked so fragile and expensive that I was sure I'd probably break it the moment I'd pick it up.

Loki looked like he belonged as always, elegantly drinking his tea as he leaned back in one of the heavy chairs.

We didn't have to wait long before a heavy lockbox was brought out to us, and Loki was shown the contents within. He motioned me over. I had sunken deep into the plushy sofa and had to struggle to get up. My face red with embarrassment, I came over to take a look.

My eyes widened; there were loose diamonds and pearls, and other valuable gems just scattered in the box. But at the centre, there was a glass box containing a necklace and a pair of earrings, carefully displayed against a black velvet backdrop.

The necklace was made of chunky gold with huge emeralds in golden settings, encircled by diamonds almost as big. The earrings were made to match. I could see it was beautifully made and probably worth a fortune. "Do you like it?"Loki asked softly. There was a slight sparkle in his eyes, and a sly smile played on his lips.

"I eh…" I didn't really know what to say. "It looks really expensive," I said a bit lamely.

"You hate it, don't you?" his sly grin grew wider.

"I don't hate it," I hedged. I didn't know how to say politely how awful I thought it was. I fervently hoped he wasn't planning on giving them to me.

"it's just a bit eh…."

"Hideous?" Loki threw his head back and laughed. "It is absolutely atrocious darling. It is gaudy and garish and I would never presume it a suitable gift for someone as exquisitely beautiful as you are. It will, however, provide me with some much-needed funds."

I sighed in relief. While it would certainly have been the most expensive gift I had ever been given, it really wasn't my taste at all.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in several remarkably similar shops, every similar one dark inside despite the sun outside shining brightly, tastefully displaying a few pieces of jewellery and art. All of them ran by old men, small and bent by age, wearing suits that quite possibly never were truly in fashion. They looked at the necklace and the other jewels with magnifying glasses, weighed and measured them, and discretely wrote down a price on a piece of paper. Loki would read and reject whatever they proposed, and they would amend the figure after careful consideration.

"I could just use my magic," Loki confided in me at one point, "make them agree to whatever price I wanted, but what would be the sportsmanship in that?"

It wasn't the only reason he didn't use his magic. He was trying to abide by the rules of the Council of Venice, he was trying to not take advantage of mortals with his magic. For my sake. It was kind of sweet actually, Loki trying his best to be a law-abiding citizen.

At the end of the day, Loki had sold most of the gems and was now the proud owner of a huge wad of money, since he had insisted on being paid in cash. "It's less money that way for certain, but it is also completely untraceable by your organisations," he winked.

While he didn't break any rules in the way he had sold the jewellery, he probably hadn't acquired it in a lawful way, I realised.

We counted the money together. I could feel myself get light-headed, I had never seen so much money in my life.

"You could buy out my cottage for that and still have money to spare!" I said weakly.

"Do you want it?" Loki offered, waving the money in front of my eyes. "I can cash out another alias if I have to, although it may draw attention from unwanted eyes..."

"Are you for real right now?"

Ever had someone just casually offer to buy your house for you? Because I hadn't. I was raised in poverty, and I had raised Jessie on a tiny salary as a single mom for most of her life. I didn't know what to say.

"It's yours if you want it," Loki shrugged.

I thought for a moment. I looked at Loki, at the perfectly tailored suit he was wearing, the folded up designed sunglasses poking out from his breast pocket, the shoes that probably cost more than my whole wardrobe combined.

There was no way he could ever afford to dress like that on my salary, let alone indulge in other things like the books he loved to collect. As a matter of fact, the money he had just casually collected wouldn't pay for that lifestyle for very long either.

And Loki could not fall back in his old ways and not just because the organisations would come down on him, on both of us, like a tonne of bricks. If he was going to be a better person, for his own sake, not for mine, I couldn't let him slide back into that.

"Keep the money," I said. "My salary covers my mortgage just fine. I pay the bills, you pay for the extras. It will all work out in the end."

Loki went clothes shopping with Cedric the next day, knowing I'd just get bored if I came along. He came home that evening with his arms full of bags and boxes, with tailormade pieces still to come.

Workmen arrived the day after and built in a huge wardrobe, taking my old stand-alone wardrobe away. There was very little room left for anything but the bed, but at least Loki's clothes now had a place.