Chapter 10

Deidra quickly reached through the icy water and shut the shower off. Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around her body.

"Oh I know he didn't just do this," she said aloud as she stomped out of the bathroom and through her bedroom. She opened her bedroom door and stuck her head out into the hall.

He saw her shampoo-covered hair and laughed harder. She glared. "You cut off the hot water?!" she demanded.

He gained his composure. "All in good fun," he said with a grin. "Did it give you a start?"

She just scowled. "Turn it back on!" she demanded.

"You care not for cold showers?" he laughed.

"Do it now or so help me-"

"So help you what?" he mocked in amusement, cocking his head to the side coyly.

She scowled silently, unable to give an answer. She couldn't do anything at the moment, clad in only a towel with suds in her hair.

He grinned. "As I thought," he said smugly.

She sighed and dropped her scowl. There was no winning this one. "Please?" she asked. "I'm getting cold. I just want to finish my shower."

'Oh she does sound pitiful,' Loki thought in amusement. He smiled. He had had his fun. "Fine," he said. "I shall restore your precious hot water."

"Thank you," she said as he walked to the laundry room where the hot water heater was.

She waited a few moments until he returned. He looked at her strangely. "Why are you still here?" he asked curiously. "Go bathe," he added with a flick of his hand to shoo her off.

"Well I'd love to," she said. "But it takes about thirty minutes to reheat the water."

"Oh," he responded. He honestly didn't know that. "So sorry," he said sitting down on the couch. He was totally not sorry.

Deidra narrowed her eyes at the back of his head, but said nothing and retreated back into her bedroom to wait for the return of the hot water.

After what seemed like forever, she was finally able to finish her shower in comfort.

"You're not funny," she said to Loki when she walked into the living room. She stood in the middle of the room with her hand on her hip.

He looked up at her from the couch and smiled brightly. "I think I'm hilarious," he responded pleasantly.

She looked at him for a moment, then shook her head and went into the kitchen for a drink of water. She took a cup from the counter and went to the sink. She turned on the faucet and instantly was sprayed all over with water from the spout.

She cried out in surprise, dropping the glass in the sink with a thud. Sputtering, she quickly turned off the water. Drenched, she leaned over the sink and caught her breath. It was then she noticed the wrench lying next to the sink. Silently she reached over and grasped it in her fist. She slowly turned around and faced the living room.

Loki had turned around and was watching her with a barely suppresed grin. She ran her hand over her hair to get the sopping mess out of her face and held up the wrench.

"Why?!" she said in a dangerously quiet voice.

He bit the tip of his thumb to keep from laughing. "You might ought to fix that," he said cheekily.

She stared at him. "I'm going to bed," she said suddenly. It wasn't even dark out. "I can't handle you right now." It was either go to bed or start screaming and beating him with the wrench.

"If it's any consolation," he said as she walked by. "I did not expect it to make that big of a mess."

She went into her bedroom, then came back into the hall and threw a pillow hard at him, missing her target widely. She then slammed her door shut.

Loki couldn't contain himself any longer and burst out laughing. Yes, Deidra was angry at him, but it was definitely worth it. 'She will get over it,' he thought.

The next morning Deidra went back to work at the lab. She was still pissed at him and didn't even tell him goodbye.

Bill was waiting for her when she arrived. "I got an interesting phone call," he said to her as she came through the door. "Your friend Amelia."

"What did she say?" she asked, putting her things up.

"She's quite worried about you," he said. "She said that you're housing a madman and that you've lost your mind."

Deidra groaned and rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand. 'It's too early for this,' she thought. "I'm not crazy," she said.

"So you are housing a madman?" Bill asked with a small frown.

"Possibly," she responded without thinking, then shook her head. "No," she added quickly. "No he's not crazy. He's just..." she trailed off, unsure of how to describe her new companion.

Bill tilted his head knowingly. "He's just claiming to be that man who tried to take over the world."

She looked at him and let out a breath. "She told you, then."

Bill nodded and put his arm around her encouragingly. "Tell me everything," he said.

She did. When she was finished Bill nodded slowly, taking it all in.

"You're positive this is the same man?" he asked.

"Yes. I was skeptical myself until his brother came. I'm telling you. The skies were clear and then boom! A huge lightning storm that stops when that guy started knocking on the door. And then when he left, the storm popped up again. PLUS!" Deidra said loudly. "Plus, both when Loki appeared and when Thor left there was the same engraving in the ground. How do you explain that?"

Bill scratched his chin. "I guess that is hard to rationalize," he said.

"You think I'm crazy too, don't you," Deidra said softly, suddenly fearful. "I know I sound crazy."

To her surprise he shook his head. "I don't think you're crazy at all," he said with a smile. "In fact I believe you." He took a few steps away from her, an excited look coming on his face. "Just think," he said turning to her. "You have a true-to-life extraterrestrial in your home right now. How many people can say that?"

"He's a god," she replied. "I've read the stories."

Bill shook his head. "No, I don't believe that. A higher being, maybe, but not a true god. God-like, perhaps, but not divine."

She frowned, but she didn't argue.

Bill took her by the shoulders excitedly. "I want to meet him!" he said. "You say he's not dangerous? If you say so, I believe you. Will he come here tomorrow? If not, I will gladly come to him!"

He walked off going on about how exciting this all was and about some lady named Jane Foster's theory on something or another and wormholes. Deidra had no idea what he was talking about, but she found it both interesting and amusing that a plant biologist was so fascinated by aliens and whatnot. In the years that she had known him, he always loved the idea that other beings might inhabit the universe. Then when it was proven that there were other intelligent beings out there, Bill had nearly keeled over in excitment. He had talked about that for weeks on end.

She shook her head at him fondly and got to work.