Unexpected

Slapdash Food and Sneaky Laundry

He smirked at me, faking a hurt look, "You doubted me when I said it was a long story, Darling? Would I ever exaggerate the truth?"

"In a heartbeat." I retaliated.

Loki's chuckle brought a small smile to my lips as my fear for his life faded as his joking personality surfaced more, "You know me too well, Penelope."

His laughter was genuine, but still tinged with pain. His voice seemed heavy and softer than normal and his eyes drooped in his pale face. He looked tired and I couldn't blame him. He'd escaped from prison, flown between several realms, fought off elite soldiers of an ancient, evil race, and had lost a lot of blood even before making it all the way to my apartment under the cover of night. He'd pushed himself too far, though I knew he would never admit it.

I hated how pale he looked, his usual porcelain hinting a greyish hue that made me worry. How much blood had he lost exactly? My nursing was not quite done. He needed to eat and sleep to regain his strength... and I needed to take care of the bloodstained towels that were now scattered on my floor. The last thing I wanted to do was leave his side lest he turn out to be a dream, but I couldn't just sit here when there were things needing to be done.

I pushed myself up off my floor, gathering up the medical supplies as Loki watched me curiously, his eyes glinting and intelligent as usual even though his eyelids drooped with his exhaustion. Quickly, I strode away down the hall, replacing my supplies into my linen closet, calling over my shoulder, "Do you think you can eat?"

"Not much I'm afraid... pain has a way of ridding one of appetite."

I nodded, though I knew he could not see it. It was as much as I expected, but still, I had to get some nourishment into him. Bustling into the kitchen I looked through my cupboards and fridge. What could I feed him? It had been a bit since I last went shopping. Did I perhaps have some salmon, which is good for blood, or red meat, which is high in iron, in my freezer? What would get him needed nutrients, but not be too heavy on him? Why were my cupboards so empty? I groaned, shifting a can of kidney beans out of my way as I tried to piece together a meal in my head. Then an idea popped into my head. I jumped back over to my freezer, grabbing up a bulging Ziploc bag of frozen vegetable soup.

I remembered how I'd bought up zucchini, carrots, onions, and tomatoes a few months ago, boiling them into a nicely seasoned soup before bagging it up into baggies for easy meals whenever I felt lazy. I had a bad habit of forgetting about them though. I only had a few of them left now, but all I needed was the one.

It was difficult shaking the large vegetable ice cube out of the bag into a bowl before placing it in the microwave. I knew from experience that it would take a good seven minutes minimum to get the stuff to not only melt, but to heat up to a good, steaming eating temperature. I pressed a few buttons that beeped with each touch before starting it, the machine's light hum starting to drone away as I grabbed a frying pan from my kitchen drawers. I glanced over Loki's way to see that he had shuffled himself so that he was peeking over at me, curiosity scrawled across his face as he looked at the humming microwave, "What are you doing?"

"Making you something to eat." I replied grabbing a container of ground beef from my refrigerator.

"What is that thing? Some sort of oven?"

Of course Loki would never have seen a microwave before. He was from Asgard where I highly doubted such appliances existed and he'd never watched me cook while I was the cook for his invasion operation. Microwaves, toasters, washing machines, and electric toothbrushes would all seem weird and alien to him no doubt. My lips curled upwards; I wanted to giggle at this realization. "Kind of. It's just a device we use to heat up and cook things really quickly. Press a few buttons and you can nuke anything."