Mabel opened the door to her bedroom to let Zabu out. The Tiger looked up at her from his sleeping position on her bed with an interrogative stare.

Mabel realized she'd been smiling like a fool and bit her bottom lip to try to control her grin. "Don't look at me like that, I realize it can't happen again." She sat next to Zabu and ran her nails through his fur. "Hungry?" she asked. He mewled and hopped off the bed with a thump.

She went to the fridge and pulled out the steak Loki had bought. She opened the bag and took out the slap of meat and stopped. Stapled to the side there note with scrawling symbols. Asgardian. She was versed in all languages, as all TVA agents were, but somehow, in his handwriting, it meant something… more. Personal. While she read, Zabu grabbed the steak out of her hand and tore into it.

For the beast. So he'll learn to trust me next time.

She held the note to her chest. A million things drifted around in her head. She grabbed one of the thoughts.

He'd actually wanted Zabu to trust him! Secondly, next time? A thrill went down her body against her will.

She could still feel him inside, her walls glowing with the remnants of pure pleasure. The warmth of his body as she snuggled into him, fitting like puzzle pieces. Somehow it was almost familiar. Like they'd done it all before. She shook her head to release the thoughts and grabbed another. She had to find her missing file. If there was a mistake at the TVA, it had to be corrected and fixed.

She ran her hand over her neck and thought again of how Loki had stroked that spot behind her ear for minutes on end as they snuggled together. It was like he knew right where to touch her.

She felt a bump against her leg and looked down into Zabu's bright eyes.

"How was your steak?" she asked.

He almost shrugged like he was trying not to indicate that he'd enjoyed it.

"It was from him you know. I think he wants you to like him."

Zabu huffed with a noise of testiness. She kissed the top of his head. "Let's go to sleep."

…..

Mabel didn't see Loki the next day, or the next. If you could call the time at the TVA days. She'd heard that he'd finally been quizzed after the training videos had run out, and they'd gone on a mission to investigate the Minutemen ambush in 1985. Her heart hurt. That was C-20's unit.

She hadn't seen Mobius either. She'd meant to stop by, but she'd had three cases spring up, which prevented her from researching her file at the library.

After her third Variant, she was exhausted. She slumped down in her desk chair, her arms hanging over the armrests.

She felt her chair being forcefully swiveled, and looked up at Scarlet, standing over her with two sodas. "You look like you could use a break Tiger," she said.

Mabel smiled. "You have no idea."

They walked together to the break room and sat across from each. "So, how is everything going?" asked Scarlet leaning back in her green chair. "You seem distracted lately."

Mabel bit the end of her fingernail. "Scar, do you ever think about the Variant's we prune?"

Scarlet knit her eyebrows together. "No. They're extras. They don't matter."

Mabel shook her head. "I don't know if I can believe that. Think about it. Take… L1130 for example… He…"

"The Loki Variant? Now that guy is a terrible example. Of course he should be deleted before he causes any more trouble."

"But now that he's here, he could make different choices couldn't he?"

Scarlet looked confused. As if she was trying to remember something. "I don't know. I don't know if we should be talking about this."

"What's the harm? Is your pet tarantula any less worthy of living if he's been reset in his timeline?" Mabel asked. She shivered a little at the thought of Scarlet's eight legged pet.

"I… I don't know… No, Pete is perfect. He's the best tarantula there is."

"What if you and I put our heads together and figured out how to stop timeline branches. Then we wouldn't need to prune anyone."

"But then we wouldn't have jobs silly. It's the whole reason we were created. What would we do?"

"Take a vacation," said Mabel leaning back in her chair.

Scarlet laughed despite herself, then grew serious again. "Why are you thinking about this so hard?"

"I can't disintegrate another person. I can't see another one of my Variant's sentenced to be reset. It seems almost…" she leaned forward. "Wrong," she whispered.

Scarlet looked stricken. "Mabel, do you realize what you're saying? You're defying the timekeepers."

"I can't help the way I feel."

Scarlet stood up. "You need to get your thinking straight. I want to help, but I feel weird talking about this." She patted Mabel's shoulder. "I care about you. You're my best friend."

Mabel smiled, though she felt the sting of Scarlet's words. "You're my best friend."

Scarlet pulled her up into a hug and started to walk away.

"Hey Scar," called Mabel after her. "Why a tarantula as a pet?"

Scarlet shrugged. "I don't know. I've always had a thing for Spiders."