Hell or High Water (#Wattys2016)

•I Really Hate You...•

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Everything you want is only a dream away, and she said we are legends everyday

"I never asked, since you're a giant..."

"Occasionally, giants will produce stunted offspring, which explains...me."

"But what you're saying is, you have no real way of explaining this to me?"

"Not at all."

"So, that isn't to say our kids will turn out, I don't know, the size of mount rushmore?" She asked, genuinely concerned due to the fact that she could be dead, but Loki snickered regardless.

"No, Charlie, you aren't going to give birth to a giant. It's scienifically impossible. At any rate, they will inherit my magic - at least Doom was right about that."

"Oh. Good to know."

"See? I'm good for something."

"I'll still die before you."

He sighed. "You have to be a killjoy, don't you?"

"Look at you. The 'hip' dad."

He smiled feintly, unused to the title of father. The worse thing about this newfound feeling is that he was going to dwell on it in prison.

°°°°°

"He really said that?"

"Yes, it was a ridiculous attempt to lighten the mood."

Charlie laughed while folding the basket full of clothes, Loki was gone for the afternoon and the kids were down for their scheduled nap. Thelia could tell she was leading up to something, but kept silent.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me? I was basically an 'escape goat'."

"Charlie, you weren't. I would never intentionally let anything happen to you." Thelia closed her eyes, knowing this conversation had to come up sometime.

"That's just it, how can you be this sure of yourself?"

"I had no choice! It was literally the only possible way to catch Doom, and even then it was just a rouge. I'm sorry, Charlie, I know how betrayed you feel. All I want to do is fix this."

Charlie lowered her gaze to the floor; it felt as if everyone she trusted had betrayed her in some small way. Then again, who was perfect? She reasoned that it was fault on her part as well for being a bit too gullible.

"No, I was wrong for jumping on you earlier, you were doing what was right even if I see it as personal."

"It wasn't, it defintely wasn't. You know how much of a wreck I actually became back in high school, even after my parents died. SHIELD was like a beacon to all my troubles, the training wasn't easy, but who knows where I would've ended up had I not joined them."

Charlie nodded, remembering how Thelia's mother verbally, and sometimes psychically, abused her when she rebelled or asked too many questions as children often do - even a few times in front of Charlie whenever she vistited the McLane's. Her father would often come home drunk, though unlike her mother Charlie was unaware of this until several years later. Thelia discribed him as more of a 'miserable' person when intoxicated, it was still hard for her see him as a father figure, the broken promises and lying certainly didn't help matters.

Threapy was an option that hardly seemed to facilitate any issues, if anything it made them worse as they would usually come home yelling at each other. Thelia once said that she believed they did it because her father was cheating when her twin died a few days after they were born - and a part of them resent Thelia for living, Charlie suspected the problem ran deeper, but never said much out of fear for hurting her feelings.

It's one of the main reasons Thelia doesn't drink herself. However, before she had a chance to tell them how she felt, Thelia's parents both died in a plane crash after visiting relatives - she had just turned eighteen a month earlier.

"And you know what?" Thelia continues, and for a moment Charlie felt like things were how it used to be, when they could just sit around and vent without being judged. "To this day, my aunt still lets guilt nearly swallow her whole. Some days she only gets out of bed to use the bathroom, and sometimes I get so worried. Like what if she doesn't eat that entire day, you know? She regrets never reconsoling with her brother and his wife. I don't want to be like that Charlie, I don't...think I could live, actually. Why do some people, the people who try to count for something in life, get delt the shittiest hands?"

"Because we're the people who can handle it." Charlie pulled her into a tight embrace and ignored Thelia's protests of her being a psychotic hug muffin.

Things were finally returning to normal, Charlie only hoped they would stay that way for awhile.

°°°°°