Working Title : Loki & Annie

77- I Don't Know, Whadda You Wanna Do?

Sherise and Mike trailed a good half-block behind the three of them, Micah pulling the wagon while trying to also hop over the cracks in the sidewalk.

Annie could hear Micah's voice as he tried to explain the reasoning about not stepping on cracks. She smiled slightly then pulled her attention back to Thor and Loki. The god was carrying his brother as if Loki were made of brittle glass and she supposed that in a way he was. She'd had the same thought before but this time she decided to share it with Thor, it was time to start his lessons about feelings.

Thor was still rubbing Loki's back, enjoying the way his Brother's body was relaxed and heavy because of it. The hot little breaths against his neck were actually soothing. He tried to ignore the thought that in the near future he would be talking with Annie about something that he might not want to talk about. However, he also was no coward so he would face her and change her mind if need be by offering even more recompense if required. That reminded him, "I must speak with you-"

"You're good with him-"

Both of them stopped talking at the same time, turning to look at each other with matching expressions of being mildly flustered. Thor spoke up first despite knowing it was polite to permit the female to speak first, he felt the need to clear up this matter would mean less confusion later.

"I must explain myself better, I believe I failed to do that in the past when we spoke of it."

"Okayy," Annie raised an eyebrow while feeling concerned because what if what Thor wanted to clear up was about her quitting her job? Thinking faster than real thought she felt a sudden spike of anxiety because what if he hadn't meant for her to quit her job so soon? What the hell am I going to-

"It's about my offer of compensation to you."

Now Annie felt the first real trickle of fear. If he took back any of that fifty thousand then she was going to be in deep-

"I believe you didn't understand it fully."

Christ on a pogo-stick Thor, just spit it out.

"The money I have is yours, I believe you stated it was worth fifty thousand of your funds. But I must make clear that I will provide compensation for all your future expenses as well." Thor used one arm to reach out and stop Annie by resting a hand lightly on her arm. He looked into her eyes, wanting to see the understanding in them. "You will have no need to work again within your lifetime. We will not have you suffer for giving my Brother and I sanctuary." He had seen the understanding grow in her eyes as he spoke and felt relieved that he had spoken to Mike and acted on his understanding of Midgardian females.

"Wha?" Annie found herself slightly fuzzing out at the edges as she sorted through every possible explanation other than the simple one Thor had just said. Lifetime? Compensation? Wha? Did Thor just say he would give me money for the rest of my life? Yeah, that is exactly what he just said. But, but that might be what he said but that can't be what he meant. Because? Well, because because. That's impossible. How would he even know how much money I would need over my lifetime? I mean, I shop at dollar stores and Walmart but still... I might- Oh, he had no clue what he was saying. That has to be it. 

The understanding Thor had seen fill Annie's eyes he now saw replaced by doubt. There were tiny little jumps that her eyes did as they searched his face before going slightly out of focus. With his hand still on her arm, he gave it a slight squeeze to bring her back to awareness. Without even looking he knew Mike and Sherise were coming closer because he could hear Micah's rambling conversation getting louder.

Annie's eyes snapped into instant focus just as her brain did, "We should talk about this at home. Yeah, we should talk about this at home." She turned and began marching the short distance to the house, the wagon bumping along behind her over the uneven spots in the sidewalk. By the time he started following her Micah was only a few steps behind him.