Hey guys. Thank you SO MUCH for your reviews! You have no idea how much it means to me to get feedback! I'm like a feedback vacuum... But anyway, that was weird. Sorry.

Anyway, thank you for all the nice words about Isabelle's character!

Richieyoung: yes, Isabelle is an original character of mine. (:

Thanks to coolbeans, Treeeeeeeeeeeeee, Richieyoung, and Guest for your reviews!

Chapter 04

"That was amazing! Thank you so much," I say, still completely awestruck by the glory of Asgard.

"It was my pleasure," says Loki.

"And thank you for walking me home," I add, "These streets can get really awful at night."

"I understand," Loki says.

"I probably look really crazy right now talking to no one," I laugh at myself and the absurdness of this whole situation. Me, an eighteen year old girl, meeting a gorgeous Norse demigod. What are the odds? It's honestly so absurd that there aren't really odds to begin with.

We both stand awkwardly outside my apartment door until I finally recover my manners.

"Oh! Would you like to come in for some coffee or something?" I ask, gesturing towards the door.

"That would be most wonderful," Loki says.

I fumble with the keys like a crazy person until the door finally unlocks.

I step in with Loki right behind me.

"Have a seat," I say, pointing towards the couch, "I'll be right back."

Loki sits, and I cross the living room and into the kitchen, where I find the coffee can. Empty.

"Crap!" I say, slapping a hand to my forehead. We're out of coffee again. Dad must have used the last of it this morning. I swear, he'll hear about this later.

I pace around the kitchen for a few moments, wondering what to do. Finally, I have an epiphany.

I stick my head out of the kitchen door and into the living room.

"Um, I just realized we're out of coffee. How about wine instead?"

Loki gives me a look like, "I don't really mind" and smiles. God, his smile.

I get down one wine glass and pour some wine from my dad's not-so-secret stash into the glass. As an afterthought, I pour one for me, although I probably won't be drinking any.

I step back into the living room, carefully setting Loki's glass down before sitting on the couch with mine. I flick the TV on to avoid awkward silence. As if to make me feel bad on purpose, uncle Tony's name pops up on the news. I focus on Loki rather than the TV.

"Tony Stark... Is he a relative of yours?"

"Yes, he's my uncle," I say vaguely.

"Oh. And is he some kind of scientist?"

"Sort of. People call him a superhero."

As if on cue, footage of uncle Tony flying around in his Iron Man suit appears on the TV.

"Like that?" Loki asks.

"Yes."

"That must be nice."

"Actually, it's what's keeping us apart right now. He's on a super secret mission that I can't know about. He's afraid I'll get hurt, so he told me he can't see me until it's over."

"Oh. That sounds quite unpleasant."

"It is," my voice is so low it's almost a whisper.

"I'm terribly sorry, am I upsetting you?"

"No, you're fine," I say, and against my better judgement, take a fair-sized drink of the wine. I feel a bit of a buzz, if only a bit.

"So do you have any other family? This is a fairly large living space for one woman," Loki says. I almost giggle at his calling me a woman, but I manage to hold it in.

"Well, my dad, but he's hardly ever home because he's always working for my uncle. And when he is here he barely notices I exist," I can definitely feel a buzz now. Loki's glass is untouched. I'm gonna have to take it easy. I try to set my almost empty glass back on the table, but I set it a little too far off the edge, and it falls off and shatters on the floor.

Before I have time to react, Loki is moving closer to me, asking if I'm alright.

"I'm fine, thank you. I'm so sorry, I didn't even mean to set it that close to the edge... Here, I'll go get towels.

I walk quickly to the kitchen and grab towels to clean up the mess. By the time I get back into the living room, I notice blood on the floor and look behind me to see a trail of little red droplets. I look down at myself to find a small gash on the outside of my right calf. I sigh, and Loki looks over. He notices my wound and springs into action. In one swift movement, he takes the towels from me and swoops me up in his arms. He carries me over to the couch and sets me down.

"Let me see your leg," he says gently.

"No, really, I can get it," I try to tell him, but he refuses to listen. He wraps one of the towels around the cut on my leg and ties it in a knot to stop the bleeding. He rises to his feet and I try to do the same.

"No," he says gently but firmly enough to get me to stay where I'm at, "Stay here. Do you have bandages of any kind?"

"In the bathroom cupboard, first room on the right in the hallway," I say without even thinking about it. What is happening right now? A man I'd just met is nursing a wound I'd gotten because of something I'd been clumsy enough to do.

Loki returns with the band-aid and unwraps the towel. He expertly places the bandage on the gash in my leg, then takes the remaining towels and cleans up the glass and wine mess on the floor as I sit here in something like shock.

Loki kneels in front of me.

"Are you sure nothing else is hurt?" he asks, turning my hands from back to palm, and then ever-so-gently placing a few fingers on the left side of my jaw and his thumb on the right side of my chin. He tilts my head gingerly from left to right and then up and down, his eyes genuinely searching for anything wrong. He finally looks into my eyes, his hand lingering on my face.

Kiss him, a voice in my head tells me. I almost listen to it, but instead I remember all the times that voice has made me look like an idiot.

"Listen, you've been really really nice to me, and thanks for that, but I've really got to get to bed. It's late," I say, although it was only 9:00 the last time I checked.

"That's fine," Loki says, standing and making towards the door. I want to reach out and grab his hand and never let go, but instead I stand and hold open the door for him as he walks out.

"Thanks again," I say.

"No, thank you, for the wine," Loki says.

"But you didn't drink any wine..."

Loki winks, smiling that smile again. Then, in an instant, he's gone.

I close the door, crossing the room and flopping back down on the couch, feeling helpless. I look over at the table where my wine glass was and have to do a double take.

My glass is sitting on the table, completely whole, with the same amount of wine in it as before.

And Loki's is empty.

"Hey, Tony, it's me. Isabelle. Your niece. I just wanted to keep you updated on what's going on in the life of moi... Um, I've just been hanging out around town, and... I met a guy... He's cool, Tony. You'd like him. He's a bit odd, but you'd warm up to him. I just hope he hangs around long enough for you to meet him. His name's Loki Lafueyson, but he prefers to go by just his first name. He's just odd that way. I'm not saying we're together, but I'm not saying we're not. We've hung out a couple times, and... I don't know, he just doesn't seem like any of the other guys. He's genuine, Tony. Anyway, I've got to go. Love you lots!"

I turn off the video blog and hit send. I sit around the house for half an hour before deciding to go running. It's too nice of a day to not do anything outside. And all of my hanging around the house isn't helping my figure. I'm usually pretty routine in my running; I try to run whenever weather permits, but I've been slacking off lately. I get dressed and grab my iPod before leaving.

On my third or fourth lap around the park, I see one of the girls who I went to school with, Arizona Barlow, sitting on one of the park benches. I decide to break for water, and if she recognizes me, I'll say hi.

The water fountain water tastes nasty, and I grimace. I suppose this happens to be a lovely time for Arizona to see me.

"Isabelle? Is that you?"

I look up from the fountain to see her ridiculously long and beautiful blonde hair, her caramel-colored eyes set on her flawless face, and her slim figure. She hasn't changed much since I've last seen her, except she looks a bit more tired and unkempt than usual.

Arizona had moved from Ottawa two years ago, and had tried hard to fit in here. She'd adopted the nickname Zoe, eliminated her Canadian accent as well as she could, wore the right clothes, and chose the right music. Everyone loves her.

"Zoe! Or can I call you that?"

"Most everyone does," Arizona laughs, an airy and delightful sound.

"So how have you been?" I ask.

"I've been good, you?"

"Alright."

"How's your uncle?" Arizona asks. I knew she'd ask this. Everyone eventually moves on from me to my superhero uncle.

"Honestly, Zoe... I don't know. I haven't talked to him in a while. He's been busy with work."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. How's Jerrica?"

"We kind of stopped being friends," I say bitterly.

"Oh my goodness! Well, that makes two of us," Zoe looks down. She can't be serious.

"What happened with you and Delaney?"

"She got really mad over some stupid thing that I don't even remember, and we haven't talked since. I've honestly moved on. She's a jerk."

"I'm still sorry to hear that."

"It's fine. Hey, I'm going to a party tomorrow night. Do you want to come? It's at Xander's at ten. How about it? We both need it, eh?"

"Yeah, you're right. I'll be there," I say, "Thanks, Zoe."

"No problem. Hey, I've got somewhere to be soon, so I'll let you get back to your workout. See ya!"

"Bye!"

I run a couple more laps around the park as Arizona leaves, and on the third, I see Loki standing by a few of the oldest-looking trees in the park.

"Hey!" I call across the space between us. He turns, an odd look crossing his face before he realizes who called.

He smiles and starts walking toward me.

"Isabelle! How are you?"

"I'm great, just finishing up a workout," I hope to God I don't smell like sweat.

"You look great," he says, effortlessly casual, as he watches a group of blackbirds fly from one tree to the next.

"Thanks, so do you," I say as casually as I can, "So hey, are you going to be anywhere tomorrow night?"

"I don't get out much, Isabelle," he says this seriously, so I don't laugh.

"Well, I'm going to a party, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me, like a date."

"That would be most delightful," Loki says, and I smile, my heart skipping a beat. Maybe two.

"Great! Do you have a phone, or...?"

"Oh, a cell phone! I do, actually."

"What's your number? I'll put it in so I can call you tomorrow."

"Alright," Loki says, and pulls out an older model flip phone from his jacket pocket. He pushes a few buttons and holds the phone up to me, his phone number typed out on the screen. I copy it into my phone and put it back in my pocket.

"Thanks," I say, "I'll call you tomorrow, alright?"

"Very well," he says, "I suppose I'll talk to you then."

I smile and turn away before he can see I'm blushing.

Heh... Loki has a Nokia... Sorry, my sense of humor is terrible. I just found that sorta funny. A little. Anywho, hope you enjoyed this chapter! (: