AN ILLICIT LOVE

Chapter 16

2 Years Later: My girls and I sat in safety and silence as I watched Loki and Thor be tortured by the mad titan Thanos. Lily and Taryn are only two at the moment. They should be running and playing with other children from Asgard. I held onto them tight as I peered around the corner to see Loki giving Thanos the tesseract. "For one, I'm not Asgardian and two, we have a hulk." I smirked and saw Bruce trying his best to at least weaken the mad titan, but Thanos was too strong. He knocked Bruce to the ground and I saw my opportunity to get to safety. Before I got Lily up, I noticed we were moving closer to Bruce. When we got close enough, he wrapped all three of us tightly in his arms and I mouthed a fast 'We love you' to my husband. Just as I finished my last word, the bifrost opened and I was taken back to New York with Bruce and my girls.

Our fall was broken by a building we crashed into. I stood up and grabbed my girls' hands, making a run for it and leaving Bruce behind. "Mommy, where are we going?"

Taryn asked as her dark red hair flowed behind her. "I have no clue right now, Ryn, but I'll know when we get there." We kept running and eventually I grabbed my girls in my arms and let my feet carry me as fast as they could with two toddlers in my arms.

An hour and a half later, I finally ended up in front of the compound gates. I now had Taryn in my arms and Lily's hand in mine. "Mommy, where are we?" Lily asked, pulling her black and red hair out of her face.

"One of mommy's friends lives here, but we're not staying." I turned around and headed back to midtown Manhattan.

It took a good hour walking back to Midtown, but when we finally got back, I started feeling funny. I had set Taryn down thirty minutes ago and she is now fully awake. "Mommy, are you otay?" Taryn asked when we stopped so I could catch my breath.

"Yeah, Baby. Mommy is okay." I bent down to hug my girls then stood so we could keep walking.

 "Mommy, what happened when we came here with Mr. bruce?" Lily stopped in front of a pet store just to ask me this simple question.

"I don't know, Lily." I followed my two-year-old into the store and they both looked around in awe. The looks on their faces made me chuckle. Like I said earlier, these girls have my heart and I love them no matter what. I would give my life for them and I know my prince would do the same. I wish he was here to see them roaming the small pet store, looking at all the cats and dogs.

"Mommy, can we get one?" Lily asked as an employee came over hearing my girls' conversation.

"Not right now, Lily. I don't know where we would put a pet." I said, grabbing their hands so we could leave.

"Can we at least hold one, Mommy?" Taryn asked, pointing to the case of kittens.

"It's ok with me, but we have to ask a worker. If the worker says yes then we can hold it."

"It's okay with us. We have kids come in all the time wanting to hold the babies." Turning around, I was met by a pair of golden brown eyes and a handsome man.

"Well, which one do you want to hold, babies?" I asked my two girls as I smiled at the nice young man.

"This one, mommy!" Taryn said, jumping up and down and pointing at a tiny, black and white kitten.

"Sure thing, sweetheart. Her name is Diana." Taryn grabbed the kitten gently and held it close to her chest. Taryn held the kitten for a good five minutes before letting her sister hold it. Lily wouldn't even let the little girl go when it was time for us to leave, and I had to take the kitten from her.

We were in the pet store for a good hour and when we left, we went to grab some food since it was getting late. "Mommy, where are we going to sleep? It's getting really dark outside." Taryn asked, looking out the window of the small cafe I found. "I don't know right now, Ryn." I ran my hands through my long hair and took a deep breath before the girls and I left and went to find a place for the night.

My girls and I ended up sleeping underneath the awning of some small business not far from the cafe. Thankfully it wasn't raining outside or else we would have been screwed, but it was chilier than I had anticipated. I know that I grew up here, but I had been in Asgard a while now and had forgotten how chilly a New York night was. My little ones and I snuggle together for extra warmth since we only had my one light sweater to keep us all warm for tonight. That wasn't fun, but I couldn't go back to the compound and I couldn't go back to my place. I hurt Hailey's feelings and didn't have the guts to see her again, and I heard they had torn down the house for some new laundry mat that was going to be built. I didn't even want to see Jackson and his family after everything that happened two years ago. 

Anyway, the next morning, the girls woke up before me and when I got up, they had food in their hands. "Where did you girls get that?" I asked, tiredly rubbing my eyes.

"A nice man gave it to us, Mommy. Here." Taryn handed me a sandwich and a bottle of water.

"Thank you, Ryn. Now what do you girls want to do today?" The sandwich turned out to be peanut butter and jelly and it stuck to the roof of my mouth so bad that even the bottle of water I had didn't help. The girls thought for a moment and then they had their answer.

"Can we just keep walking around, Mommy?" Lily asked with a grin.

"Can we, Momma? We've never been here before." Chuckling at my girls' curiosity, I agreed and we grabbed our stuff and headed out.