In Little Ways

Chapter 9

"I hope everyone had a wonderful December twenty-third! This is..." Lia turned down the radio, smiling as the music flowed through the empty room, lifting her spirits as she worked.

A few weeks had passed since the dinner and Tom had been over almost every single day to be with the girls. Just the day before, the twins and Tom had had the biggest snowball fight in the park, getting kids and their parents to play as well. By the end of the day, their noses were bright red and poor Kami got the sniffles, but Lia was so happy to see the large smiles on their faces.

"Ms. Lia, Mr. Stark has asked me to tell you that you need to go home. Tom is waiting in the lobby." F.R.I.D.A.Y spoke suddenly, making Lia laugh.

"Okay, tell him that I am just putting away these papers, then I'm headed out." The elevator ride to the bottom floor was quick what with her excited planning of Christmas day. Tom had bought them tickets to see the Nutcracker on Broadway.

"Cecilia! It's about time you got down here! You know how long I have been waiting? It's cold as hell!" Lia looked up then, seeing the face of a man she had never wanted to see again. Chad, her ex-boyfriend, and the father of the twins was standing in front of her, his flannel, fur lined jacket clinging to him. At one time she had thought that he was the most attractive man in the world, but after meeting Tom? He looked like a rat. Specifically a rat they had been turned into a human. Maybe even the famous one from Harry Potter.

"Babe, let's go. I want to see the twins. What are they, five now?" He said, chuckling as he walked forward to grab her hand. She quickly yanked it from his grip, glaring daggers at him.

"First of all I am not your 'babe' and second, the twins are eight now." She fumed, quickly looking around for someone to pull her out of this mess before it got worse. And it always got worse.

"Oh baby don't be like that. I was only messing around. I miss you. Let's go home and see the girls. I just want them to meet their father." He said, going to grab onto her shoulder. Chad gripped her tightly, holding her close enough that she could smell the amount of booze he had in him.

"Let me go Chad. I already told you no!" She cried, trying to pull her arm from his grip as his carefree demeanor began to slip away, being replaced quickly with one of anger and impatience.

"You can't keep my kids from me woman!" He yelled, making her squeak in fear as she clawed at the still tightening hand.

"They stopped being your kids as soon as you told me to get an abortion, you bastard! They are mine. My children!" She was crying now, desperately trying to pull her arm from his grip. And as he rose his free hand to smack her, she turned her face away as much as she could, trying to protect herself from his hand.

Then suddenly she heard a loud smack and her arm was free before she was pulled into a warm, protective embrace.

"I'm here. I'm here, love." Lia took a deep breath as she wrapped her arms around Tom, her face buried in his chest as he whispered to her lovingly.

"Who the fuck are you?"

***

Loki had been in the restroom for only five minutes. That was how long it took before he heard the yelling.

"You can't keep my kids from me woman!" The man was upset, that was easy to tell, but he could hear the sobbing from the woman and knew immediately who it was.

Red flooded his vision as Loki took in the scene in front of him. Lia sobbing as she clawed at some man's hand which was gripped tightly onto her upper arm. She yelled something back at him, but Loki didn't hear a word as the world slowed down. The bastard, who he assumed was the asshole ex, was raising his hand to strike her. He saw the terror in her eyes and knew then that this wasn't the first time this man had done this to her. Loki slammed his fist squarely into the man's jaw, quick to pull Lia from his grip and spin her away so that she was completely protected from any further attacks as he whispered softly to her. His heart wrenched painfully in his chest at her terrified sobs and he felt rage burn through him as he heard the man curse.