Working Title : Loki & Annie

Chapter 32 - Bruises

Loki's feet propelled him upwards and away from Thor's grasp, his soapy body easily slipping from his Brothers hands. And seemingly in that very same instant Annie found herself with her arms full of a naked, wet child that had his legs around her waist and his arms so tight around her neck that she felt her breath cut off. Even in her shock she wrapped her own arms around Loki and pulled him from the sink while dropping to sit on the floor. His voice was a high keening.

Thor stood thunderstruck as he looked down at Loki being rocked while enclosed in Annie's arms, one of her hands rubbing his back the other holding the back of his head. Her voice was repeating a string of words that he couldn't hear because of the pounding of blood in his ears. He had been wholly unprepared for Loki's reaction yet his mind was stuttering to the conclusion that he shouldn't have been. He should have been prepared for it. He slowly sank to his knees then finally folded over them and dropped his head to the floor. He had failed Loki. Again.

Annie's mind was in overdrive as she tried to skip from zero to one hundred mph while grabbing her order from the drive thru. And still get her change.  Fuuuuuck. Two gods having a meltdown in my kitchen. No, this is not good. Not good at all.

Loki had his face buried in her neck, his arms encircled her head and throat almost twice, there was so little slack in them. She could hear and feel the panic-stricken cries as he wailed them out. She had never heard a kid cry like this and she had heard a lot of kids cry. Had been one of them herself. This was something beyond her experience. Desperate. Fearful. Pleading. Angry. Hopeless.

Annie could only lower her eyes to look at Thor, Loki's grip was still that tight. She finally could understand his words and her heart was torn between hate and pain. Hate for the man who had done this to Loki and pain for the child that had suffered it.

Like any child Loki could only sustain his cries for so long and gradually his wails turned into whimpering whispers. The minutes past painfully slow while Loki could only pant out in her ear, "No," and "Please." Over and over again.

Annie tried to pull back to see his face but his grip was too tight. She looked at Thor, he was still hunched over, his hands clasped over the back of his head. His body was still so she didn't think he was crying but she wasn't sure. Annie reached a hand out to pat Thor's back as well, rubbing it the same as she did Loki's while she whispered in Loki's ear. "You're okay now. You're safe. We're not going to hurt you, we promise. It's okay, you're okay, Loki. You'll be okay. Promise." A mantra that she had every intent to see come true.

Thor pulled his torso upright, remaining on his knees. He looked at Loki whose voice had dropped to near silent mouthing's. Annie met his eyes. He felt shamed that he had left her to take on Loki's fit alone, he just could not bear to think of what had been done to Loki. A Prince of Asgard. "I have decided that I will not kill Reapt." Annie's eyes looked startled. "I will let him live, in the dungeons while I return every injury he visited upon Loki to his own body. And then I shall start again."

Annie stared deep into the blue of Thor's eyes then licked her lips. She felt compelled to say something though she had to admit that the idea was tempting. The reality was not. "That's actually a human rights violation here. A Midgardian right."

Thor's near blank expression didn't change. "I am not Midgardian. I am a god, I answer to only one-" Here, finally, Thor's eyes narrowed in an unsettling viciousness. "And he is the cause of this so I answer only to myself."

Annie felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she smelt the ozone that she was realizing came when Thor was angry. The sound of thunder that wasn't all that far off was another sign. "And me." Thor's eyes met hers. "You kinda said you had to do what I told you, remember?"