Unexpected

Better Late Than Never

"Miss Penny, help!" Lillian whined, looking down at her untied sneakers.

I sighed, finishing up Ana's second pigtail that I had hurriedly tied up. She had insisted on doing her own hair this morning, brushing it and putting it in a ponytail, but so many hairs were hanging out at odd angles that I simply couldn't let her go out like that, so I had to coax her into letting me put her hair in clean pigtails instead. How had I forgotten that kids were so stubborn! Had I ever been this difficult? Sorry Grams and Grumps if I ever was! "Coming, Lil."

"Ow! You snapped my head!" Ana cried sharply as the elastic hair tie snapped against her skull.

"Oh! I'm sorry."

She looked up at me with a petulant lower lip, "It hurts. You have to kiss it!"

"Fine then." I smiled, leaning down to give her scalp a quick kiss, making a dramatically loud kissing sound as I did so, which made both of the little girls giggle, "There. Now, Ana, go grab you and your sister's backpacks okay"

"Mm-kay." Ana mumbled before clattering off to grab the bags, leaving me to go tie her sister's shoes.

Lillian was already standing by the door, practically hopping up and down with impatience. I knelt down and started working with the shoelaces, "Hold still now."

"Can I have more zuke bread?" Lil asked, eyeing the kitchen from over my bent shoulder.

"You had enough for breakfast." I told her before turning my attention to her bright purple winter coat, zipping it up as it seemed the little one was struggling with it, "But I'll bring the other loaf downstairs to you tonight when your parents get home, okay? How does that sound?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" she squealed. What was it with kids having their voice volume turned all the way up all the time?

"Okay then, it's a deal." I stood up, grabbing my work bag and slinging it over my shoulder, "Ana! Where are you?"

"Here!" the elder sister called, bolting out from around the corner with both backpacks in hand. "Can't I bring my blanket to daycare?"

"No. We don't want it to get dirty. I'll be bringing that to your home tonight along with the zuchinni bread. Now come on. Do we all have our coats and gloves?"

"Yeah!" they harmonized.

"Okay, let's go." I bustled them out of the apartment, hurriedly trying to lock up my door before the girls rushed down the stairs and out of sight.

How did they have so much energy? I was exhausted! Though there was a reason for that I suppose. Loki's visit last night had lasted much longer than it had seemed at the time, leaving me alone in my living room in the wee hours of the morning. Of course I couldn't just curl up in bed to sooth my aching heart at his departure afterwards either. No, I had to camp out in my office on the footon, which wouldn't have been such a problem if a nightmare hadn't bombarded my sleep. I'd tossed and turned in my fitful sleep while my mind suffered from its own dark stories of snowy balconies sprouting from thorny vines and gurgling Chitauri cries that threatened me with growls and snarls as shadowy hands tried to creep over the balcony railings to grab me.

"Girls! Girl's wait up for-" My half-volume command was cut off as I spun around from the door to chase after the girls and nearly knocked into a blonde woman who had stepped out of her own door right across the hall from Steve's apartment. "Oh my- hey, I'm sorry!"

"No, no, you're fine." The blonde woman replied. I recognized her immediately as Steve and my reclusive neighbor. She was a pretty woman with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and dark brown eyes. I could see her pale pink scrubs shirt peeking out from her partially zipped jacket, and her matching pants covered over white nurse's shoes. I must've caught her right as she was heading to a shift at the hospital or something.