I want to take a moment to thank CassieAnne97potatoes for being my very first review. Words cannot explain how much it means to me that you took to read Show Me Love before it had gotten this far.

Also to musicalishmonster and KittyBear98 for continuing to share your opinions on the direction this story is heading.

I'm so happy that I can create something worth reading for you all! Much love friends, RinFox xoxoxo

Making it home before it got too dark, Erin set to work preparing dinner for the two, haphazardly chopping vegetables and tossing them into a pan. Loki sat at the table flicking through the of one of her books, stealing glances at the occupied woman over the pages. Her copper red hair was tied loosely at the nape of her neck, loose pieces of hair falling around her face. She rubbed at her cheeks, scratching as the pesky strands tickled her.

Erin moved the vegetables around in the pan, pleased by the sound of the grease bubbling furiously.

"The smell is quite appetizing," a voice sounded in her ear. Jumping at the sudden intrusion on her personal space, she tried to keep her focus on the task before her.

"T-thanks. Should be ready in, uh, ten minutes," she stammered.

Loki smirked, pleased with the effect he had on her. He delighted in toying with her, watching a medley of expressions dance their way across her freckled face.

"Would you mind grabbing the plates above the sink?" she managed to get out quietly, refusing to look up from the stove.

He nodded, stepping next to her where the sink was located and grabbed the plates from the cupboard above, placing them on the table.

Erin worked quickly to finish making dinner, seasoning it lightly before she felt cool hands brush the tops of her arms and ghost their way over her elbows, coming to rest on either side of the stove. Her skin rose, trailing behind in the places she felt his hands, while the hairs on her neck stiffened under the soft caress of his breath. After the initial shock, Erin slowly found herself leaning into his embrace, finding comfort, wanting more… until grease shot from the pan and landed on the bit of flesh exposed between her jeans and the hem of her shirt.

"Fuck! Ow, ow, ow…" She spun around, instinctively clutching her burning skin, when just past the Loki holding her was the actual Loki, leaning back in his chair with his legs propped lazily on the table.

"No. Magic." The words left her lips like heavy weights. Her face was as red and and hot as burning iron, completely mortified by being fooled by his simple tricks.

Loki smiled at her anger, daring her to unleash her rage. "It's just the two of us here, darling - I didn't think you'd object to me exercising my abilities." He smirked triumphantly, awaiting her response.

Erin, however, could only imitate a fish as she gasped for breath, searching for the words she wanted to convey while keeping the intensity of her emotions to a minimum. Her face wouldn't cool down, the embarrassment of the situation was too great for her. How could he do something so cruel like that? How could he give the illusion of false intimacy like that? They were finally starting to go somewhere, finally able to establish some sort of common ground with one another, only to have him so rudely betray her trust like that.

She didn't want to look at him anymore for the rest of the night - she couldn't look at him - so she took her coat from from the absent chair across from the bemused god and headed for her door, her only words to him short and emotionless, "Your dinner is on the stove."

The cold night air brushed against Erin's face, cooling the heat from her cheeks as she stepped out into the fresh night air. Her legs moved with stiff purpose as she blinked back angry tears. She didn't realize what she had agreed to - taking in some strange god from a completely different world is much easier said than done. I could just kick him out. No she couldn't. He said so himself. But why did he have to be so cruel? She felt like she was in middle school again when boys picked on her for her baby fat and pasty freckled skin. It was obvious that they were just boys being boys, but the vulnerability of the situation felt familiar, like Loki was one of the school boys that would share his crayons and then have a laugh with his friends at her own expense.

Although Erin had grown into adulthood and gained the confidence she had today, it was as if she had minor flashbacks to the person she had once been and might still be underneath it all.

Her feet carried her to the bar, wanting to forget about the 6'2" god undoubtedly laughing at how naive she had been. Upon opening the door, she could already hear Anna's sultry voice as she was flirting with a fellow patron.

Anna, immediately noticing her new friend, abruptly ended her conversation with the man beside her and followed Erin to a stool at the further end of the bar. "Hey, you. Popping in for a little night cap?"

"Not exactly." She waved Gabe down, holding up two fingers to him.

"Oh no, sweetie, I'm good. It's gonna be an early night for me."

"It's not for you."

With a sigh, Anna rubbed the younger woman's back comfortingly, "Okay, sweetie, what's on your mind?"

Over the next hour, Erin's deflated aura livened up as she animatedly described her first encounters with Loki, coming clean about the night in the club and leading up to her walking out of her home where she left the god. Anna was silent the entire time, barely sipping from her watered down beverage.

"...I just don't understand. He has these moments of kindness and even, dare I say it, selflessness, only to just act like a total jerk! He should be thankful that he has somewhere to stay and I'm not giving him up to the police or the Avengers."

"Erin," Anna finally spoke up, reaching for the woman's hand, "Honey, I'm not saying I don't believe you, it's just - this sounds rather far reaching. I mean, why would Loki, the guy that you claim was behind the attack in New York, be here, on earth, staying with you? Even if it is him, Loki isn't a friendly. He can kill you after he tricks you into believing you're safe. Are you sure maybe this is a weird ass Criss Angel wannabe that's just giving you a run for your money as some sick joke?"

"Anna, I know I sound crazy," she drew in a breath, "but there's no other truth to this story that I can give you."

The two women stared into each other's eyes for some time, unsure of what to say next. Finally, with a deep breath, Anna broke the silence, "Okay, fine. I can believe you if that's what you would like for me to do. We can talk about it more later, but for right now I think we should both be on our way back home." She stood from the stool and held a hand out to her companion, her tanned skin radiating the warmth of the midday sun.

Erin shook her head, politely declining, "Thanks, but I'm gonna stick around for a bit longer. Won't be out too late, I promise." She reached forward and hugged the dark haired girl, taking in the smell of her luxury perfume.

"Ok. Good night," Anna pulled away and walked in the direction of the exit. "Gabe, make sure she makes it home ok." At his nod, Anna sent one last wave over her shoulder before disappearing into the night.

Erin didn't drink anymore, instead deciding to stare into the bottom of the glass encased by her hands, as if it could tell her what the future of her decisions would bring. What if Loki does kill her? What if he's waiting for the opportune moment to strike, or he's just wearing her down until she loses her mind and ends up in a mental ward for running naked through the streets screaming about aliens and gods? Each thought she had only caused her to sink deeper into the pit she was in, no longer trying to fight her way out of it.

Gabe, standing nearby, flicked the lights on. She was the last customer, she had realized. Most of the chairs were pulled up onto the surfaces and the floor had been freshly mopped. She shrugged her coat on and stood up from her seat, placing it on the bar with the others. Gabe watched her head for the door, "Erin," he started, following her outside in front of the building, "I don't know what's been bugging you, but if it's any consolation, you have a lot of people here that care about you. We all just want to be around to see you smile." He scratched the back of his neck lamely, looking down at his black shoes.

Erin smiled, feeling genuinely happy she had him by her side. Reaching forward, she hugged him tightly, quickly enveloped by his strong arms. He smelled like a man, like body spray and soap and mouthwash, but he didn't smell like lavender and pine - like Loki.

She pulled away from Gabe, still comforted by his words, "Thanks, Gabe. It means a lot."

"Anytime. Do you want to stick around a little longer? I just need to finish up a bit more before and then I could walk you home."

"I should be fine. I only live a couple blocks away," she reassured him. It would have been nice, but she definitely wasn't in the mood to have Loki notice him and to start, well, being Loki.

She tried to ignore the way his shoulders slumped forward, or his deflated voice when he replied, "Okay, sure."

Giving him one last quick hug, Erin started her short trek home, grateful for the silence that accompanied the night. The street lights buzzed overhead, a few flickering slightly as she walked down the center of the street, knowing there would be no cars out this late at night save for a few late night travelers.

Nearly a block away from her home, the sound of tires crunching along asphalt alerted her. The sound drew closer and closer until the lights cast a shadow on her form, informing her that the car was approaching her from behind. Before she had thought to move, a sickening scraping noise was heard in the same direction and Erin turned to find this car had driven too close to the cars parked on the street, thoroughly damaging them as it passed. Instead of stopping, the car only seemed to accelerate further, heading straight for Erin, its horridly bright lights near blinding the young woman. Her breath caught in her throat and as she stared down the headlights of this rapidly emerging vehicle, she couldn't help but wonder if this is how deer and roadkill feel before they get hit. If so, it's a frightening way to go, she decided.

Giving into the fear, she could only wait for the car to hit her fragile body like a fallen branch.

That never happened though.

Instead, she found herself tucked into someone's side, her head being cradled into the person's neck. Her heart was beating so rapidly that she could barely hear her name of the thumping in her ears. "Erin, Erin? Say something." Her face was being patted, a little roughly at first, as she caught her bearings. An all too familiar scent filled her lungs and she focused her eyes on the concerned pale greens ones before her.

"Loki? What are you doing here?" she asked lamely, still recovering from the shock of almost being hit by a two thousand pound car.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing walking in the middle of a road where you can get attacked by those weird mechanical horses!?" His eyes looked different. Was he glaring at her? "Do you not realize that your life is pathetically fragile and limited? How dimwitted are you?!" Oh yes, definitely glaring. "If you want to go off and get yourself killed then you're gonna have to cook more than one horribly charred meal before you do."

"Well, excuse me but I am not your maid, sir," she retorted weakly, attempting to stand on her own before her legs turned to jelly beneath her and gave out. Thankfully, Loki knew she'd never make it on her own so he gathered her in his arms and pulled her to his chest, cradling her body with ease. "A-and I didn't burn anything - I'm a good cook," she mumbled into of his coat, once again finding herself embarrassed in his presence.

"Yes, yes you are. Which is why you cannot go off all willy nilly getting yourself killed." He looked down at her, a smirk playing at his lips. "How many times do I have to rescue you before you realize that, darling?"

Erin kept her head cradled under his chin, her heart still thrumming loudly enough that she was afraid maybe he would hear. She allowed him to carry her home, setting her gently on her bed once they had made it inside. He left the room for a few minutes to grab a glass of water for her, placing it into her outstretched palm. He watched her take large, generous gulps, noticing how the fingers around the glass had a white knuckled grip on it.

She finished the glass and placed it on her end table, staring up at the god before her with grateful eyes. "Thank you, for saving me a second time since you've been here."

He smirked down at her, taking in her disheveled appearance - her hair had grown knotted from the wind whipping it about and her face was paler than usual for her. Loki was surprised that he knew how she felt; her life was close to being cut short not more that twenty minutes ago and she was once again faced with her own mortality. Loki couldn't call it 'pathetic' anymore, and when she grasped his hand as he turned to leave, and he stared into her honey brown eyes, he didn't want to call it that. Instead he found it simply sad. Sad that any moment, this gift that you had and cherished above all else could be ripped from you without you so much as having a say in the matter.

Loki's eyes strayed to her fingers desperately wound around his, feeling the slight tugging that pulled him closer to her. "Please, stay," she whispered, afraid that the request was too much to ask of him. Feeling overcome by a feeling that he was unfamiliar with, Loki nodded and turned to turn off the lights as she stripped out of her clothes, allowing him to change into the sweatpants that she had bought him.

Climbing into bed, Loki kept some space between the two of them, finding himself in uncharted territory. Her body was shaking slightly - from the cold or the recent events, he did not know. He found himself, for one of the first times in his long life, unsure of what to do. Loki was confident in every sense of the word, but comforting someone? Not in his skill asset.

Keeping the space between them, Erin reached out her hand to grasp his own, her small fingers wrapping around his. They both remained silent, lost in their thoughts. Although neither of them made a move to lessen the distance between their bodies, their fingers remained intertwined. Even after Erin's breathing grew slow and deep, Loki remained awake, wondering how her small hand had managed to tether him to this world.