After the End

Chapter 18 - The Closet

Two weeks later.

      Allegra and Naomi sat beside each other on the black leather sofa in Tom's lounge, watching Jack play with a dozen small plastic green army soldiers in front of the marble fireplace. He was making them fight each other, smashing each toy together in a violent dance as he made noises to indicate the soldiers becoming wounded.

"How is he?" Allegra asked eventually, breaking their trance.

"He's ok," Naomi shrugged thoughtfully. "He's still not at school. They've excused his attendance for the term. Although, much to his dismay, we are still doing the schoolwork at home," she winked.

"You could do all of my schoolwork for me," Jack interjected, letting it be known to the sisters that he was listening in to their conversation.

"No, Jack," Naomi shook her head. "Not anymore."

Allegra threw a sideways glance at her older sibling at her last statement, when there was a knock at the door, making Naomi jump. She was on edge at all times, understandably so seeing as how the police had still not located and arrested Wayne, but Allegra rested a warm hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

"Relax, I asked someone to pop over," she smiled, standing up and readjusting the bottom of her shirt.

She crossed to the door and opened it, embracing the visitor in a warm hug, and Elsa Hemsworth entered the home, a large smile on her angelic face.

"Hi, you must be Naomi!" Elsa grinned, pulling Naomi into a hug before she realized what was happening. "I've heard so much about you!" she continued. "I'm Elsa."

"Your majesty," Naomi stood up quickly and bowed, unsure if she would understand her humour. She hated it when Allegra sprung spontaneous plans on her.

Elsa looked at Allegra, clearly confused as to why there was a grown woman bowing to her, and Allegra laughed. "She thinks she's funny," she told her.

"How are you?" Elsa asked Naomi.

"I'm ok," Naomi nodded, sitting down again. "Still a bit on edge, though. Although, I have finally gotten used to having police around my house 24/7," she leant forwards and sipped her sweet tea as Jack continued to play with his soldiers. Elsa looked at the young boy as he threw one of the toys across the room. She knelt down beside him and smiled kindly, her motherly instincts taking over.

"Hello," she said softly, "you must be the famous Jack."

Jack turned to her, his face screwed up in what could be considered disgust. "Who are you?"

"My name is Elsa"

"Do you have a sister called Anna?" he asked, remember the Disney film 'Frozen'. He hated that film.

Elsa chuckled, a collection of harmonic tones, and she smiled more. "I do, yes. She's back at the castle."

"I'm going to marry her. Not you," he said, resuming his war scene.

"Oh," Elsa said, pretending to sound disappointed. "Well, that's ok. She's very excited."

Naomi turned to Allegra again, taking a deep breath and trying not to get jealous over Elsa's natural motherly ways. She made dealing with Jack look so easy.

"You know, I realized something recently," she said to her sister. "Something I would like to tell you, Allie." Naomi shot Elsa another look which Elsa picked up immediately, and stood up gracefully with a genuine, warm, friendly smile.

"Is Tom in?" she asked Allegra.

"Yeah, he's upstairs getting ready," Allegra replied, returning the smile.

Elsa nodded and moved past the two sisters, climbing the stairs up to where Tom was collecting his things in preparation for a day of filming.

"Ok, so..." Naomi began. She grabbed Allegra's warm hands and pulled them closer to her, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Remember like a month ago when we were at the police station, you asked me why I hadn't been with anyone since he who must not be named?"

"Yes. Naomi –"

"Allegra, I think..." she took another deep breath to try and calm her nerves, "I think I've found out why."

Allegra nodded, waiting for Naomi to continue.

"I think... I think I'm... gay."

"I know."

"Yeah..." Naomi said slowly, her eyes falling to the floor. Suddenly, she reheard what her sister had said, and turned sharply back to her, shock in her eyes. "Wait, what?" she asked. "You knew? How?!"

"I've had a hunch for a while now, Naomi," Allegra chuckled softly, squeezing her older sister's hands to reassure her.

"Well, why didn't you tell me? I didn't know!" Naomi laughed, a little disappointed that Allegra already knew something that she had only recently discovered for herself. "Well, there goes my big 'coming out' story."

Jack stood up quickly, abandoning his toy soldiers on their battlefield, and pointed over his mother's shoulder. "Loki!"

Naomi and Allegra turned around to see Tom and Elsa standing in the open doorframe, Tom in his full Loki costume, a large, friendly grin painted on his kind face.

"Tom! I'm gay!" Naomi exclaimed happily.

"I know," he replied as he walked around the sofa to join them. His now long, dark hair brushed his cheeks as he perched on the arm of the sofa beside Allegra, and he rested his armored hands on his lap.

"Why did everyone know before me? If you guys already knew, then why didn't you tell me?" Naomi moaned and sighed before continuing. "I never really enjoyed sex. I thought it was just because of how Wayne treated me, you know, during it, but –"

"Naomi," Allegra interrupted through gritted teeth, "Jack can hear you."

"So can my soldiers," he grinned, although everyone knew that he didn't know what they were talking about.

"You're right. You're right," Naomi nodded, shaking her hands in front of her. "That's dirty. D-U-R-T-Y. We can have that discussion another day."

"Naomi, that's not how you spell dirty..." Allegra told her slowly.

Tom moved in front of Jack and crouched down so that they were eye-level, his long, dark green velvet robe flowing effortlessly beneath him.

"Hey buddy," he grinned warmly, "how are you?"

"Can we take over the world together?" Jack asked, ignoring Tom's polite question.

Tom took a moment before responding as he realized that Jack truly believed he was Loki and decided to act on it. "Perhaps another day," he smiled. He stood again and turned to Allegra. "Allie, we are going to the studios in about half an hour."

"Ok," she smiled.

"You're coming too."

"I am?"

Tom turned back to Jack and crouched down again. "Hey, Jack," he whispered, "how would you like to come and meet my brother, Thor?"

"Can we kill him?"

"Maybe we can tickle him to death," Tom grinned, tickling Jack and making him squirm with laughter. Naomi was shocked as normally Jack would kick her if she tried to tickle him.

"Can we use your knives?" he asked Tom as soon as he had stopped tickling him.

"Let's just stick to the tickling for now," Tom winked.

He stood up straight as Jack whined in disappointment, and they all gave each other a look before bursting into laughter.