Here's the next chapter. This one is long and things start to develop with our two main characters... How will everything go down exactly? And what does that mean for Loki developing being a powerless Asgardian around Midgardians and their ideas about male/female relationships?

Previously

They are filled with… recognition?

What?!

And to think, he thought nothing interesting happened on Midgard.

Chapter 3

As soon as the recognition appeared in her eyes, it was gone, replaced by a smile and teasing.

"So, when were you first hired, and how is it like working with all that testosterone?" The angel, who is most likely owner of the bakery, asks as her full lips quirk up in a slight smirk.

"Well, I was hired about 3 weeks ago and the testosterone level is almost overwhelming." Loki replies as he tries to be cool, leaning against the counter, very well aware of his shirt sticking close to his skin. The shirt, which is entirely focused toward the beautiful owner leaning against the counter, is sticking to his very well-endowed upper body.

"I bet," She giggles, extending her hand, "I'm Isabella Bane, owner of this bakery, but you can call me Isa. It's nice to meet you…"

"Loki, Loki Odinson." He says with a smile, kissing the back of her hand softly in lieu of shaking it. "What happened to your leg?"

Isabella coughs slightly, trying to push down the pink blush on her face caused by the kiss. "That's an interesting name; your parents must have been fascinated with the Norse gods. And I got in a small car accident that broke my ankle and slightly fractured my shin bone."

"More like a HUGE car accident, a lucky-to-still-be-attached ankle, and a completely BROKEN leg." Samantha chimes in, popping between the two as she comes to get the next order, "But you won't hear a word of complaint from her. Oh, and hey there sexy; how're you doing?"

Isa coughs slightly in annoyance as Samantha slips into Flirting Mode, glaring a little at the waitress, Loki oblivious to the silent exchange, as he looked down to focus on his pie.

"Really now? How did you get in the car accident?" Loki asks after Samantha gets the message and leaves with the order she had come to get.

"Oh, it's no big deal." Isabella tries to deflect, looking at her plate.

"I'd still like to know if you're willing to tell me." He says softly, looking her in the eyes when she looks at him to judge whether or not he is really interested.

Finally, after a few moments she tells him that she had pushed a little boy, from one of her tourist customers, that was in the street retrieving his new toy ball out of the way of a truck, as the little boy hadn't looked before going after it. The truck was huge and the front wheel had landed on top of her ankle and when she had tried to pull it out, she broke her leg by twisting it and the stress of the tire pressing on her ankle.

Loki is silent, taking in her story about how she saved a little boy that she didn't know and floundering at the self-sacrifice. Why would someone temporarily cripple themselves if they would not receive anything in return? Doesn't everyone do things in order to get something in return?

He ponders on this subject for a moment too long, Isa shifting slightly on the counter, her cheeks flushing a deep pink.

Finally, Isabella asks, "Why have you been working so long? To change the stopper rod only takes about half an hour if you know what you're doing." (A/N I don't know about this, tell me if I'm wrong so I can correct this)

"Oh, well, I noticed that the retaining nut and pipes were preparing to fail on you, so I went about replacing them for you with some of the extra parts in my bag." He says, motioning to the sink, the back of his neck flushing to a soft pink as he babbles about the sink and why he is replacing the parts.

Isa tries to hold back her giggles at his babbling, coughing slightly to stop him before he says anymore. "Are you done?"

Loki nods, rubbing the back of his neck, bending down to tighten any loose bolts and make sure everything works. Meanwhile, Isabella begins to ready a cup of coffee and a slice of her extremely popular apple pie.

Loki, noticing that, stops her and finishes the job, getting a slice for her as well as a glass of water. Isa tries to insist that she could do it herself, that he has worked enough already, but he shakes his head and lifts her carefully onto the counter. He then brings her the slices of pie, water and coffee.

Watching is the staff and some of the customers. All are interested in how this will play out.

Isabella and Loki discuss a little more about the Winchester brothers and how Loki came to work for them. She adds in amusing, sarcastic tidbits about the brothers, causing Loki to chuckle and shake his head at how true they are. Only when Bobby calls Loki to ask what the hold-up is do they realize how much time they spent together already.

Loki thanks her for the pie, and Isa insists that he take a couple whole pies in addition to the payment for the whole fixed sink. Loki shakes his head and only takes what he was called to do, being extra careful with the pies as he drives off.

"So, "no dating" for you huh?" Samantha asks, raising an eyebrow at her friend as she stares out the window at the disappearing car.

"Oh, shut up." Isabella says, "I'm still not asking him out."

"But you won't say no if he does?"

Silence is Samantha's only response to that question.

"Don't you have work to do?"


"Oh, Lucy, is that pie?! Did she send pie?" Dean asks, running over to Loki, grabbing the boxes out of his hands and opening them, moaning in bliss.

Sam walks over and smack Dean upside the head, taking the boxes from him and taking them to the kitchen, calling Bobby over.

Loki murmurs to himself, "Oh, yes the job was done well. I basically redid the entire sink, had the best pie of my life and may have met the best person in all of the galaxies combined. Thanks for inquiring friends, appreciate it."

"Loki, you have to have some of this pie! It's heaven on a plate." Dean says with an ecstatic look on his face as he cuts himself a huge slice.

"The owner gave me a slice back at the bakery." Loki says nonchalantly, making a pot of coffee for his coworkers.

There is silence, everyone looking at Loki, a bit confused. Upon realizing the complete silence, Loki looks at the three guys and frowns, a bit confused.

"She gave you free pie?" Dean asks, looking at him intently. "Why did she do that?"

"Uh, well, Isabella said that she wanted to repay me for working so long on the sink. I had started to replace the pipes and nuts as they were failing on her and Isa wanted to thank me, I guess?"

"She never does that whenever we go." Dean says with a pout, shoving a bite of pie into his mouth.

"She was civil to us whenever we would go work on the different places, although she did give us one pie or cake on the last couple jobs, though nothing this generous," Sam explains when Loki is more confused than ever, just as Bobby asks, "Who the heck is Isa?"

"She's the owner; she let me call her that." Loki says, a bit confused by the reactions from the Winchesters and Bobby.

"She's interested in you man, ask her out." Dean says, having gotten over his pout by devouring his pie and inching toward the box for another piece, Sam slapping his hand. "She's hot and definitely worth a long night out, if you know what I mean."

"I don't want to make her uncomfortable; she has a plastic and cloth, cast thing on her leg from a car accident and she seems like a really nice person." Loki says, getting a little angry with how Dean is referring to Isabella.

"Well then don't; she's just a woman man." Dean shrugs off Loki's irritated tone, going back to his pie and coffee. Loki is thoughtful; should he ask her out? Would that make her uncomfortable? Is she even available or willing to go out with him? Is all this deliberation worth it?

Loki decides to shrug the questions off; after all, this attraction is simply a fleeting distraction that will go nowhere right?


Isabella notices that the mechanic that fixed her sink the first day she came back after her accident has come by every morning for at least a month; her boot sill isn't off, but she's no longer on crutches and she has a doctor's appointment about moving to a wrap. She chuckles to herself as she thinks of the first meetings.

He would always come in and get the same pastry and coffee order, (lemon muffin and half coffee half cream, no sugar), then pay in exact change, (always $4.67). She often went over and talked to him for a little while if there wasn't any baking to be done for the morning rush. The bakery was nearly empty of staff and customers at the time in the morning he would come.

He would always respond to her questions and ask some of his own, giving off positive signals, but never ask her out. Maybe she was reading the signals wrong? No, he always seemed interested in what she had to say; listened intently and ignored everything else but her...

She is knocked out of reverie by Loki walking in, more nervous than she was used to seeing him.

"Isabella..." He starts to say after placing his order.

"Same pastry again? Don't you ever want to change it up a little?" Isa says, not looking at him as she busies herself with preparing his order and for the day.

"I wanted to ask you a question-"

"The lemon tart or the multi-berry cake is quite good as well if you wanted to try it ou-"

"Will you go on an outing with me?" Loki finally bursts out, stopping Isabella mid-tirade.

She flounders for a moment, a bit confused and shocked. "Wh-what?"

"I'd like to know if you would like to go somewhere with me, for a few hours at most, on a Friday or Saturday night?" Loki asks his body language calm and collected due to his instincts created by his warrior training, but his eyes expressing his nervousness and slight doubt.

"Of-of course I would. Would Friday night work for you?" She says after a long moment, her brain finally catching up to the situation.

"Yes, Friday would be excellent. Do you want to meet me somewhere or shall I pick you up?" He asks, waving his hands as he changes his mind, "Here's my number, you can let me know where you want to go later if you don't want to decide now."

Isa flails internally for a minute, but nods in agreement, accepting the card with Loki's number on it. "Alright, I'll let you know."

"Thank you." After a moment of hesitation, he kisses her hand, lingering for a few seconds then taking his leave, saying goodbye to her.

"What just happened?" She whispers to herself as she tries to connect all of the dots, Samantha walking in and overhearing her.

"What did just happen?" She asks, putting up her bag and putting on her apron.

"Loki just asked me out." Isa says, showing her the card with the number on it.

"Shut up. He did not." Samantha squeals, grabbing the card and reading it back and front.

"He did, it's for this Friday, and he's letting me pick the place."

"You know what this means don't you?" Samantha says, hands on hips.

"What?"

"One, you just got some major eye candy, and two, we get to go shopping!" The two girls hug each other in excitement and eagerly start planning on what to do before the influx of customer's starts.

Oh, this is turning out to be quite interesting indeed.