In Little Ways

Chapter 7

Loki smiled down at the book he was reading, the sounds of the café bustling about becoming wonderful background noise.

The bell over the door chimed softly and he could hear the sound of children laughing.

"Um excuse me mister, this is our booth." Loki turned then, seeing two small girls in fluffy jackets, one pink and the other black.

"Is it now? Well, I'm sorry." He said, unsure about how to talk to children, let alone what they wanted him to do. The boy they were with was definitely not their father, looked more like a young man.

"That's fine, we can fit. We have fit much more people in this booth." The pink wearing one said, smiling to show off her missing front tooth. The black wearing one nodded, as they moved to sit across from him. The boy was the last to enter, quiet.

"Well...alright. That's fine." Tom said, looking around at the other empty tables.

"We come here all the time with our mommy. She loves it here." The pink one continued, pointing towards a table that Lia was serving. For a moment, Loki felt terror seize in his chest, but then she moved, revealing a small woman. He sighed, relieved that is wasn't Lia they were talking about before the boy looked at his watch, his eyes widening.

"I'm gonna miss my date. I'm sorry girls. Lia!" He called, waving over the woman as she turned. Loki watched as she walked over, a smile on her face before she saw was at the table.

"Hi...everyone. What are you guys doing here?" She asked slowly, looking at her girls and nephew with a look of terror.

"Came to get dropped off-" The pink one began.
"When we saw this man in our booth and-" The other one continued.
"No one likes our booth." The first one finished, a look of amazement on her slightly chubby face.

Loki looked between them as they finished each other's sentences, smiling as he remembered his own brother. At one point in their childhood, they had always finished each other's sentences. It was never something that their father approved of though.

"Yeah! I'm sorry auntie Lia, I have my date with MJ and we all know how she hates when I'm late." The boy said, standing and giving each of the girls a fist bump before hugging Lia and running from the shop.

Loki looked back at Lia, suddenly understanding.

"That was your nephew. The one that got shot. Is he their babysitter?" He asked, shooting a glance at the girls who were watching him with matching grins on their tiny faces. They kind of freaked him out a little and a spark of pride ran through him, thinking of himself at their age.

"In a way, yes. He doesn't get paid, but he takes care of them." She told him, shifting awkwardly on her feet.

"Brother Petey loves taking care of us!" The pink one cried, making the other one nod. Loki was starting to think that maybe these girls were mentally connected or something.

"Brother? So these are your nieces." Loki concluded, noticing similarities between the girls and Lia. Lia opened her mouth then, about to say something before the girls laughed.

"No, silly, she's our mommy!" The world froze. Lia looked terrified. Loki looked between them quickly, his throat closing up and making it difficult to breathe.

"M-mommy? Lia is your...mommy?" He whispered, to which the girls proudly nodded. Lia turned then, walking quickly to the check out counter and talking quietly to Jack. Loki could see that she was freaking out.

"How do you know our mommy? Are you a friend of hers-"
"Or maybe her boyfriend?"

Loki looked back at the girls, taking in their matching glares. He stopped then, seeing again a memory from his childhood. He had been playing with his brother when they heard their parents fighting. They swore then to protect their mother from any harm that would come to her. He felt his heart clench painfully as he remembered he had failed.