Nighttime

Loki held his green-eyed bundle until she had been asleep for ages, scared that moving her would wake her up. He was grateful to find that once she'd gotten into a deep sleep, she was limp and boneless as he tucked her into bed. He couldn't resist leaning down to kiss her lightly on the forehead.

"Good night," he whispered, padding softly across the floor to keep from making any noise and closing her door behind him.

"Well done," Lena said as soon as he emerged again. "Pip hasn't ever been too difficult about going to sleep, but she likes her routines."

"It's no trouble," Loki answered honestly. He was just grateful for shelter and kindness.

"I don't have an extra bedroom," Lena continued, "but speaking from experience, the sofa isn't bad."

She took out a worn afghan and put it on the edge of the sectional couch. "You know where the kitchen and bathroom are. It's still early, but I usually don't stay up that long past Pip."

Loki nodded. "Thank you," he said. "I'm—grateful."

Lena smiled. "Tomorrow you can help me figure out what we're going to do." Loki did not really know what she meant, but he nodded anyway, not about to jeopardize his friendship with her, scared that he might frighten her away. She disappeared into her room, and he went and changed into plaid sweatpants and a t-shirt. At least his clothes were clean, and he felt comfortable.

For a couple of hours, Loki watched television with the sound muted to keep from waking the little girl or disturbing her mother. He hated Midgardian programs, but he hated being alone with his thoughts even more, so he forced himself to pay attention to a treacly-sweet medical drama until he finally felt sleepy.

Loki did not know how much time had passed when he was awakened by the sound of soft feet walking across the floor. He no longer had enhanced senses, but his hearing was still keen. He had always slept alone on Asgard and never grown used to sleeping through noises in the night.

"Pip?" Loki sat up and rubbed his eyes, his vision adjusting to the darkness as he made out the tiny figure. That was when he heard the soft sniffles and realized the little thing was crying.

"What's wrong?" Loki felt a lurch inside him, and he'd have been willing to fight anything that had harmed her. But you can't fight a nightmare.

"I had a bad dream," she wailed. "I'm getting Mummy."

Loki thought quickly. Lena had looked tired, as if she desperately needed her rest, and, after all, bad dreams were the same horrid beasts no matter which realm a person was in. "Come here, pixie," he said, opening his arms. If the little girl said no, he would let it go and consider it understandable.

"What are you going to do?" Pip asked, stood still in the middle of her upset. A good question. What was he going to do? He thought back to his mother's ways of soothing him when he'd been a small boy.

"We could talk about your dream if you like," he said, "or we can have more cuddles."

"Will you tell me about Asgard?"

The little thing drove a hard bargain. "What happened to not talking about that any more?" Loki asked.

Pip wiped her arm across her eyes. "Just wanted to try."

At least she was distracted from her nightmare. "Naughty little thing," Loki scolded. "Come here."

The little girl came to him, and he picked her up. She was so light, even without his powers, that he was terrified of hurting her somehow. He set her on his lap and used the edge of his t-shirt to dry her eyes and blot the tears off her cheeks. "Mummy's very tired," he said, explaining. "If you still want her in a little bit, you can get her."

"I don't want to say my dream," Pip answered.

"That's all right," Loki said, reclining across the couch and draping the little girl across him. "Let's get sleepy." He held her, but loosely enough that she could move around and find a comfortable position against him. He thought of Frigga, who had given up countless nights of interrupted sleep in order to soothe and hold him. Midgardian children were not so different, it seemed.

"Loki," said the little girl's tiny, sleepy voice after a while, "why do we have bad dreams?"

"Well," Loki answered, "you know the part of your brain that makes pretty stories when you're awake, so you can imagine things that aren't real?"

"Uh huh" came the sleepy reply.

"I reckon," he continued, "that when we sleep, sometimes that part puts bad or ugly things together because we're not awake to tell it what to do."

"How do we stop it?" Pip asked earnestly.

"I don't think we do, pixie," he answered. "I think we're lucky if we have bad dreams and there's somebody to take care of us after."

"Who takes care of you?"

How many ways could one little girl make a former god's heart break in his chest. "I have to take care of myself, Pip. That's what being grown means."

Pip shook her head vehemently against his chest. "You're wrong. Mummy says we all need other people. You have me and Mummy now."

Loki wrapped her up more tightly in his arms. "Go to sleep. And Mummy's right, but I suppose you know that."

Pip obeyed, settling against him and falling back to sleep in minutes. Loki breathed a sigh of relief that he'd managed to distract her from Asgard. But for how long?