Chapter 3: Eggs and Bacon

Kayla rolled out of bed with a thunk onto the floor. She slowly picked herself up and trudged over to the bathroom. She turned on the faucet and splashed freezing water on her face, which did nothing to help her tired state. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Bags were multiplying under her eyes and her hair was a rat's nest. She already didn't get much sleep because of the nightmares that Loki admitted to making her have and last night didn't help. Last night had been a long one.

She had started heading to bed and went to check on the boys to make sure they were okay. Thor was fine. Snoring, curled up in a ball with his red sheets a mess. She had gotten quite the surprise when she leaned down to check on Loki. She found him wedged against the walls which their bunk beds were pushed up against. He was holding his breath and his green blanket pulled up around him. "Loki what are you doing up?" was all she had said before he flung himself into her arms and started balling. She took him into her room and sat on the bed. She laid him down and he rested his head on her leg as she leaned against the wall. Whispering to him, she stroked his black hair. He ended up crying himself to sleep on her leg. The remnants of his crying still audible in his soft breathing.

She wondered what he would of done had she not come in. He had muttered to her with sagging eyelids "My nightmares aren't as scary when your here. Promise you'll come every time, promise you'll make me feel better?"

"I promise" he smiled then he had drifted off to sleep. Does he have nightmares a lot? She assumed so from his comment. What does he do? Loki was not the type of boy to show his feelings to others. He was teased and excluded enough, he didn't want to show weakness. She knew the feeling. Does he sit like that in his bed?Terrified and Jumping at every shadow that moved in the room. Crying?

She threw on some clothes, pulled her short hair up into a ponytail and walked out of the room. She thought about the future. There was quite a bit of information that she read about them. Loki was adopted, he was a frost giant. It was revealed to him much later. He tried to take out his anger on Jodenhiem and Midguard. She thought about it. She could tell from his face, his eyes, last night, the little boy had a lot of anger, pain, and sadness he hid away behind a carefully trained mask. It wasn't just the fact that he was adopted. He had years of negative emotion piled inside him and he was filled to the brim. The pain that was added from the revelation was too much and he overflowed. It wasn't much different from herself really. She remembered having nightmares. Replaying her parents death over and over in her mind. They had been sitting at a railroad crossing and the bars were coming down, the person behind them was drunk and hit their bumper pushing them onto the tracks and then... and then. Tears welled up in her eyes, she shook her head, trying to shake the memory out of her minds eye. That memory had haunted her nightmares for years. She had sat crying in her room, her eyes moving at every shadow. It was uncanny how much they had in common she thought.

She reached their room and opened the door. Thor's snores almost drowned out Loki's soft breathing. She walked over to the windows and opened the curtains. The light shown through onto Loki's face. He rolled over rubbing his eyes.

"Is it time to get up already?"

"Yep unfortunately" She said picking him up out of bed. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Lo, I want to give you something. Is that okay?" He nodded. She pulled a small thing on a string out of her pocket. It had a button on it. She pressed it into his palm. "If you ever need me again." He nodded understanding the reference "Just push that button and I will be right there, okay?" He nodded and smiled. He thought about her as she set him down and he put it in his pillow. She knew he would keep her promise. People had a hard time lying to him.

Kayla climbed up the ladder and carefully woke Thor. She had learned not to wake him up too abruptly after the first time. It was not fun, she ended up with quite a jolt, blackened and with frizzy hair that took days to calm down. He yawned and she picked him up still half asleep. She started to walk out and a little hand grabbed her pant leg, looking up at her with one arm outstretched was Loki. A smile came on her face and she took the hand that Loki held out and walked out of the room to get them some breakfast. Even though she was pretty sure Thor had fallen back asleep in the short period and was now drooling on her shirt.

Kayla sat Thor down at the table, he had finally woken up by the time they reached the kitchen, where Kayla often made them breakfast. The cooks could do it for her, but she liked to cook and liked seeing their faces when they tried some new foods that her parents had made for her. Loki climbed onto his chair.

"What should we have for breakfast?" She asked looking at them.

"BACON!" Thor yelled. She had made it for them her first day and ever since then it has been Thor's favorite breakfast food.

"Well we are going to need a little more than just bacon Thor."

"Can we have scrambled eggs?" Loki looked up at her.

"Scrambled eggs sound great!" He smiled but it was cut short by a yawn. She smiled. Even before last night Loki had been pretty mellow in the mornings. Loki was a light sleeper, woke up easier but needed an hour or so before he was completely awake. Thor on the other hand slept like he was dead, the only thing betraying the fact that he was alive was his snoring. He was hard to wake up but once he was he was like a cannon. Up and running right away.

She turned on the stove. They had customized part of the kitchen for her and made it something she was more comfortable with and they always kept it stocked. She finished cooking and gave each of them a plate full of scrambled eggs and bacon "What do you guys want to do today?" Loki shrugged picking at his food. His black hair that was usually neat was tangled and a mess, a large piece hung in his face as he took a bite of the eggs, melted cheese still connecting it to his plate. She reached over and pushed it back. He looked at her but kept eating. Had she done that a day ago he probably would have caught her cape on fire again.

"Can we see my friends?" Thor mumbled through his mouth full of food.

"That sounds like a great idea Thor, hmm maybe we can make cookies." She said pondering. It was something her mother had often done with her.

They looked at her as if she was speaking in Greek.