An Interesting Arrangement

Chapter Twelve

Loki sighed contentedly as he flopped across the sofa. Natasha's head snapped up from where she had been napping, curled up in an easy chair. She gave him a tired smile.

"They in bed?" She asked, yawning.

Loki nodded sleepily. "Yep. Barnes is just finishing up Stephanie's story." Stephanie had her own room while Oki and Jace shared, partly because even though they were four and six, they still had an untoward fear of monsters under the bed, often leading them to either to bunk with Loki or Bucky or to leap into each other's beds. Stephanie, though she claimed to not be afraid of monsters, often slept in her parents bed. To protect them, of course.

Normally, Natasha would help put the kids to bed, but she'd just come home from a mission and had suffered some pretty bad hits. Steve had had to remain behind to deal with SHIELD and the rest of the government which was also weighing on Natasha's mind. So Bucky and Loki had taken over putting the kids to bed for the night.

"Thanks, Lok." Natasha said, smiling. "I really appreciate it."

Loki smiled back. "Don't mention it. I like taking care of them."

"Well now that is that!" Bucky announced, striding purposefully into the room. "Steph is asleep and Jace and Oki are counting the glow in the dark constellations on their ceiling."

Natasha smiled and fell asleep again. Loki raised an eyebrow at Bucky before covering his eyes with his arm.

"Teenagers." Bucky said with a snort before going to the closet and pulling out two blankets and covering up Natasha and Loki. "Night, kids."
*
Loki woke up in the middle of the night to someone poking him.

"Loki?" A quiet voice asked.

"Yeah?" Loki said, raising his arm off his face and saw Oki's innocent face staring back.

"I can't sleep."

Loki sighed and hauled himself to his feet, picking up Oki and carrying him back to his room.

"Would you sing me a lullaby?" Oki asked softly.

Loki smiled a little. "Sure kiddo." Loki thought for a moment and began singing the Winnie-the-Pooh theme, which was one of the first Midgardian songs he'd learned.

Oki smiled as Loki finished. "Thanks, Loki."

Loki ruffled his hair and stood up. "You gonna be able to sleep now, bud?"

Oki gave him a pitiful look. "Sleep? But what if the monsters get me?"

Loki thought for a moment. There was no way he was going to be able to convince Oki that there weren't any monsters, but maybe he could do something just as good. "Hold that thought." He said, striding out of the kids' room and to his. He pulled something out of the closet before returning to Oki and Jace's room.

"Here buddy." Loki said, handing Oki one of his capes.

Oki looked confused for a moment until Loki spread it across his bed. "Now this is a monster proof cape. As long as you sleep under it, you'll be safe, ok?"

Jace's head popped up. "Can I have one too?"

Loki smiled. "Sure, bud. But I think I have something you'll like better." Loki closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, he had a crochet American flag in his hands. "This is your monster proof blanket."

"Cool!" Jace said, spreading it across his bed.

"What about me?" Stephanie asked from the doorway. Where'd she come from, no one was quite sure.

Loki grinned and disappeared for a moment, reappearing with one of Thor's red capes.

Stephanie gave him a wry look. "Isn't that Thor's?"

Loki shrugged. "Maybe so. But he won't mind donating it to battle the monsters."

After getting all the kids set, Loki flopped on his bed and smiled. Even though he'd never admit it, he enjoyed taking care of the kids.
                                    *
The next morning, three kids flew downstairs, all carrying their new monster battling blankets.

Natasha eyed Loki. "Do I want to know why they think those can protect them from monsters?"

Loki shrugged. "Small price to pay for having them sleep at night."

"Amen to that." Bucky said with a grin.

Needless to say, the kids all kept their blankets, even after they learned that there were no monsters under the bed. Or are there?
                                     *
Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully things will start picking up soon, but I'm going to start school soon, so I don't know when I'll be able to update again. Thanks for reading!