Author's Note: Heh, well I planned on writing more over Spring Break but... Well, I was distracted by a fun game of Plants Vs. Zombies that I finished in 3 days... That's kinda sad... Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 15

"What was that about," Niki murmured to herself, ignoring the thud from the hall. It was either the cat, the dog, or Ember and considering what just happened, it was probably her nosey little sister. Slowly she stood and leaned against the frame of the glass door, staring after the god of mischief who had taken up residence in her house. Slowly he grew smaller until he vanished into the tree line.

With a sigh she flopped back down in her chair and tried to focus on work again but to no avail. She sat their puzzling on why she was so distracted, chucking a pencil across the room in frustration. It bounced off the door only to come flying back as the door burst open and Ember came flying in.

"What the hell was that," Ember yelled.

"What the hell was what?"

"Why did you just let him leave?"

"What was I supposed to do? What was that about anyway?"

Ember buried her face in her hands, groaning before leaning in towards her sister. "You are the thickest, most naïve, nimrod I've ever known! Can't you see that Loki's in love with you? He has been for a while! It's so painfully obvious!"

"W-what?" Niki leaned back, blinking in surprise at her young sister. "No, that's impossible. Why would he ever… I'm not…. What?"

"My gosh, have you always been this thick? Why do you think he was in here? I don't know why he said that whole bullshit about 'not settling for anyone' because he's the best you could ever hope for, and that's a lot coming from me."

Breathless, Niki sat there, thinking about the last several months. True she always thought the Norse deity was attractive, much more so that his blonde brother. But she never looked for any return affection so she never showed any. She always assumed he'd never find anything attractive about a human girl like her, not after living in Asgard and seeing as much as he had.

"W-why me? What am I supposed to do? I'm…. I'm not…."

"Good heavens woman," Ember yelled again and, pulling her sister's arm, yanked her out of the chair, shoved her out the door, and locked it pointing in the direction Loki had taken.

"What am I supposed to do," she yelled back at her sister.

Ember pointed again and shut the curtain. Huffing, Niki shoved her hands in her jean pockets and marched off in the direction of the trees. Soon she was in the belt itself, wandering aimlessly, kicking any twig or stone that crossed her path. She jumped when one of the stones gave a loud, "Ow!"

"Oh! I'm sorry, oh! It's you," Niki gasped. "I'm so sorry!"

There was Loki who'd apparently been sitting on a stump and apparently she'd just kicked the toe of his shoe.

"I guess I don't mind, you look like you have a lot on your mind," he said gazing up at her.

"You could say that again." She dropped to the ground next to him. There was a long pause that involved Niki throwing pebbles at trees but it wasn't long before they were no more so she sat there hugging her knees.

"Care to share," Loki asked finally making her jump.

"Well, heh, Ember told me some things," she answered evasively.

"Oh really? What things? Will I have to intercede again?"

"Oh don't worry," she chuckled dryly. "She already did."

"Did what?" Then his expression became grave and almost, if she didn't know him better, slightly fearful. "What did she say?"

Niki shifted awkwardly and poked at the dirt. "Well… she said…. Ah, well I'm…."

"Would you spit it out already? I need to decide if I need to strangle your sister or not."

"Not if I don't first," she muttered. Again she paused before screwing her face up and blurting out like a Junior High girl. "She said you were in love with me!"

This time the silence was very awkward.

"She… she really told you that?"

Niki had spun around to face the opposite direction and now bolted up, brushing off dirt and stammering, "Of course that's impossible. She must have been trying to pull a prank on me, trying to get me worked up. I mean, why you would ever, well, I mean, it's me and I'm not, ah….I'll just…"

"I swear I'm going to kill that brat if it's the last thing I do." Cheeks turning a faint shade of pink, the Norse deity leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees.

"Look, it's alright, I know she wasn't right." Niki stood a ways off, crossing her arms for warmth. "It wouldn't make sense would it?"

He huffed but didn't look at her. "Yeah, I guess so."

They stood/sat there before there came a loud yell and Ember burst in. "Do I have to explain everything to both of you?!"

The two jumped and Loki stood, towering over Ember.

"Why did you tell her," he yelled.

"Because it's obvious and you weren't telling her. And you," the younger said, spinning to face her sister. "Stop thinking what I know you're thinking. It's not true."

"What is she thinking," Loki asked curious and slightly afraid.

"She's thinking," Ember explained crossly. "That it can't possibly be true because she's 'not good enough' and 'not pretty enough' for you because you lived in spectacular places like Asgard all your life."

Shocked and with a slightly pained expression he looked at the elder Sorenson sister. "Truly? You think that?"

Niki stood there face red and hands shoved in her pockets staring at the ground. That was all it took. Ember quickly moved out of the way as Loki rushed over grabbing Niki's arm, leaning down to look her in the face.

My work here is done… Finally, Ember thought and left with a satisfied smirk on her face.