Author's Note: Hehehe, I feel evil after writing this chapter. :) Let us know what you think!

Chapter 14

Come on, talk to her. Ember squinted with one eye squeezed shut as she peered through the door. Everything was perfect. Now the idiot just had to talk to the bigger idiot and everything would work out. At least that's what she hoped.

It had been three days since Ember and Niki fought and for those past three days Loki had actively been avoiding Niki. Finally Ember had had enough and after yelling at him to get in there, she had shoved him into Niki's office/dining room and shut the door. Now the Norse god was pulling up a chair next to Niki's computer and pulling off her headphones that had blocked out all the yelling done previously.

Convenient, Ember thought. Now if he'll just talk to her and if she'll be smart and see what's sooooo obvious, we'll be fine.

Adjusting her crouched position she mentally hushed herself as Loki began talking to her sister.

"Ember told me what you two fought about," he said without preamble.

Well, that's not how I would have started that but alright. If he wants to jump in the deep end….

"Oh," Niki replied and rubbed her eyes from staring at the screen for so long. "I'm surprised she did. So did she send you here to talk me out of it? Because she clearly got her point across last time we spoke."

"Well, in a way," Loki confessed, looking away. "But not quite in the way you expect I'm sure."

"What? By telling me it's stupid? Or that Tony Stark is the biggest waste of time? That I am perfectly aware of and he was just what put that idea into my mind! There is no way I'd ever…"

"No," he interrupted. "I believe she voiced that opinion very well on her own."

"Ug, you have no idea, that child!"

"But that's not wh…"

Niki interrupted again going on about how Ember "cussed me out at said that if Tony Stark ever set foot on our, our property, the little shit. It's my property, she just happens to live here! It's only a minor miracle that I was able to become her legal guardian at all!"

Would you just shut up and let the man talk! And hey! Watch it! I am just as aware of how lifeless you were before I made you make friends! So I don't wanna…

"Would you let me finish," Loki interrupted again putting a finger to her rambling lips. "Your sister pointed out something to me that I thought I had done a very good job concealing. Apparently I wasn't hiding it well enough because she saw it and I'm glad she told me about this before something regrettable happened."

"Niki Sorenson, for the past 8 months I have lived with you and your sister. You two have an astounding relationship that makes me, of all people, jealous."

Outside the door, Ember bit her lip to keep from shouting, cheering the god of mischief on.

"Only recently has Ember allowed me and I allow her to grow close to each other. But you, Niki, you have never turned me away. You accepted me as soon as I explained my situation. Never asking, never arguing. You simply accepted me. That alone would have been enough but you continued to surprise me. When I showed my true form, you didn't run and hide, you didn't hand me over to SHIELD. You sat there and waited for me. There is no way I could ever repay you for what you've done for me and there's no way I could ever thank you enough. So listen when I tell you this."

Here it comes! Ember smothered her enormous grin with her hands, holding back her joy and laughter.

"Do not settle for just anyone. Not Tony Stark, not a common man off the street. You deserve so much more." Leaning forward, he kissed the startled young woman on the cheek, got up, and left through the sliding glass door.

Out in the hall there came a loud thud as Ember fell and hit her head on the door.