Bella was out. A security breach had been reported by the back gate, and it was her job to check the perimeter, and he read a book, one he had attempted to read many times but had never quite gotten through it, War and Peace. Over the last few years, he had started reading the book seven times and hadn't s got past page forty two.

Steve Rodgers sat at the opposite end of the room in his check shirt and jeans, looking too clean cut, except for the pistol on his hip. He stared broodingly at him, ready to shoot if necessary. It was strange, but he tended to ignore the armed gunmen now.

He was alerted as the couch next to him went down beside him, and he glanced over to see Sophia De Martino curl up next to him with a large book.

"Good evening, Chicken Hawk," Steve used her call sign, "how was school?"

"What is 1940's for 'sucked'?" Sophia questioned. Loki smiled, but he chose not to get engaged. There was no telling what would happen to him if he broke rule three, all he knew was that his bodyguard was very protective of her daughter, and he felt a pang of jealousy whenever the subject was brought up.

"In my time, we would have just said 'terrible'."

Loki tried to ignore them.

"Hi, Loki," Sophia said to him.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you," he flicked another page, "if you have a problem, take it up with your mother."

"Mom doesn't want me talking to anyone," Sophia huffed, she is so overprotective. If it were up to her I would be locked in the basement until I'm twenty five."

"Your mother is trying to do the best for you," he told the young girl plainly, "of course; you must remember that she has never had an eight year old daughter before. You should not be so judgmental." Yes, he knew that it was hypocritical of him to say that to her, as he was about as judgmental as they came, "her methods may be faulty, but she is doing the best she can."

Sophia sighed, "Okay. . ." she shook her head, "I won't tell her if you don't."

He glanced at Steve, who shrugged, "for not talking, you are sure doing an awful lot of talking."

"Agreed," he said with a grin, "what do you wish to know?"

"Sleipnir," she said automatically and Loki looked directly at her, "and your role in the fortification of Asgard," she handed over the book. It was bookmarked where she had read with a piece of string, and he read the myth that was written down, slowly filling with shock.

"This is not only wrong, but it is disgusting," he pulled a face, "who wrote this?"

"Nameless Christian priest," Sophia shrugged, "I always thought they made you look like a weirdo to make the Christian god look good. It's an adult vocabulary way of saying 'you suck and I rule'."

Loki looked at her. She was wise beyond her few years. Perhaps humans were not as stupid as he had first thought either that or mother and daughter were the exceptions other than the rules, "what really happened?"

"The fortification of Asgard happened long before my birth," he told her truthfully, his voice a little higher than usual, "Sleipnir exists, however not as they say."

Sophia grinned and perked up, "this is gonna be great."

"Mother taught me everything I know of magic," he told her, "as well as the dangers. She told me that to create life out of nothing, there would be severe consequences. I listened to her, however so did Thor," he smiled sadly, "and so at the next feast, marking Thor's sixteenth birthday, he waited until I was sufficiently . . . into the festivities. . ."

"As in hammered," she grinned at him, "this is going to be good."

"He dared me to make an animal," Loki answered, "and I, being as you humans say, 'hammered', agreed. I gave him eight legs so he would go twice as fast, but he was originally electric blue, not grey. he sort of faded out over the centuries."

Sophia laughed, "Electric blue horses. This is getting better and better."

"When Mother found out, she went ballistic, and for the first time in his life, Thor got in trouble."

"What about these dire consequences?"

"I went through a phantom pregnancy and labor," he said as flatly as he could. Sophia began to laugh. Loki went a delicate shade of pink, "it's not funny. It's not."

Steve didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he chose to remain neutral, and silent. He was well ready to jump in when he was needed. But then his face split in a slight grin, the one you get when you know you shouldn't find something amusing but do.

"Sif's hair," she asked, changing the subject, flicking a few pages.

"Cut it, died it, did a good job. One of your modern hairdressers would be proud."

"Idun?"

"I did save her," he said defensively.

"Sure," Sophia shrugged, "after you tricked her, got her kidnapped and got threatened with torture then death," she grinned.

"Alright, kick the bleachers out from under me."

"Does that mean you really did tie your balls to a goat?"

"I can't tell you that," Loki told her stiffly, but then he smiled a small, sneaky smile.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"If you really must know, I was saving that act for a special occasion."

Sophia nearly fell over in uncontrollable laughter, thankfully she was sitting. Loki laughed too, laughter was contagious. And then she stopped and became deadly serious, giving him a far more youthful form of her mother's stern glare.

"You seem like a pretty cool guy," she told him, "what on Earth made you go 'death to all humans' crazy?"

He sighed, "I don't know," he admitted to her, "a mixture of things, I think."

Sophia nodded, "awkward, but I'm listening."

"I don't want to talk about it."

And neither of them noticed Steve take a small glance at a dark figure in the unlit hall. He nodded to her, and the figure just continued staring for a moment then nodded back.