Sorcha's Secret World, Part one.

Chapter 39, Thor-Bear.

It was a lazy Saturday morning. I was doing dishes and Loki was ironing his shirts. The cats were chasing a fly around the kitchen. So was Thor.

"Small zaps please Thor, I don't want to have to change the fuses again," I warned him.

Thor just frowned. "This insect vexes me, it's incessant buzzing is driving me to distraction!"

The fly flew into the hallway, Thor and the cats chasing after it.

"Sometimes I wonder how we could possibly be related," Loki said dryly and shook his head. "Then I remember with a sigh of relief that we aren't."

I grinned at him.

"Talking about distractions, do you have to do your ironing shirtless?"

"If I had a shirt left I wouldn't be ironing," Loki explained.

"You object?" He winked at me.

"No, I don't object, it's just... distracting," I said as I eyed his athletic body appreciatively. His muscles rippled under his flawless skin as he expertly ironed his shirt, his black hair tumbling down his back. Even now it was still hard to believe sometimes he was mine, that he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

Despite my thoughts, I stifled a yawn.

"And yet the view seems to bore you," Loki teased.

"I'm not bored, I'll never bore of that view. I'm just tired." I hadn't slept well that night.

"That was my fault," Loki realised. "Did my nightmares keep you awake?"

"That was only part of it, I had bad dreams of my own." Seeing the concern in his eyes I reassured him quickly. "Not the Dreamers, just normal dreams."

One thing the other Bees I met had in common was terrible nightmares sent to them by the Dreamers. I never had those, and I didn't know why. Loki thought it was because I had spoken to the Dreamers directly, after Loki and I fought when I had disappeared into the portal. Loki believed that they couldn't affect me because I had rejected them. Because my will was too strong. Thor insisted it was because I stood under Thor's protection.

Maybe it was a bit of everything, I didn't really know myself.

"You were there too after the Gaia prison was partially breached." I suddenly realised. "Do you the Dreamers ever give you nightmares?" I wondered.

"No, never," Loki answered. "I have plenty of demons and nightmares of my own. Between those and my bad memories, it is probably crowded enough in my head even to scare the Dreamers away."

There was something about the way he avoided my eyes, the way his face was kept carefully blank.

"You are lying!" I realised.

"Most certainly not. I would never lie to you." Loki put down the iron and took me in his arms. I slid my own arms around his bare shoulders and pulled his head down.

"That is a lie too," I said.

"True. I lie, but not about things that truly matter. Not to you."

His blue eyes met mine, his face serious. "I've never had a nightmare sent by the Dreamers. Trust me."

I studied his face for a moment. I believed him. So why had I thought he had lied before?

The cats came running into the kitchen, followed by Thor who knocked over one of the kitchen chairs. The fly buzzed around the table and flew back into the hallway again.

I hid my face against Loki's chest, trying not to laugh. I could feel Loki's shoulders shake with suppressed laughter, and we both burst out laughing as our eyes met.