Eagle (A Loki love story)

Chapter 66

House Chapter

Loki's POV

Mira had departed some time ago and words could not describe how strange it felt to not have her in my immediate vicinity. To my surprise, Doctor Banner had approached me and asked me to add a laboratory onto the ground floor of the house. We had not yet decided where to put it but we were working out what it would look like. It would be about half of the size of the one he shared with Stark but, to my surprise, he was being very kind and taking the time to explain the functions of everything. A part of me suspected that he was for himself because he did not wish to become the Hulk but the other part hoped that he was actually warming up to me. We were in the middle of deciding where to add it onto the house when the Hawk, who had been outside for some time, came up to us.

"Uhh.....Bruce? You might want to come outside with me for a sec. I found something I think you should see."

"What is it?"

"Come on." The scientist motioned for me to stay where I was but as soon as they rounded the corner, I became invisible and followed them.

"So I was scouting the area just to get a sense of the lay of the land and I found something...peculiar. I don't think Mira knows about it yet, but this seems like something Thor's mother would have told her." I was hurt that he did not acknowledge that Frigga was my mother as well but that didn't stop me from following them out the front door. Dr Banner looked around for a moment, confused.

"What is it?"

"Just listen for a moment." The pair fell silent and I heard it before they did. There was a high-pitched squealing and whining coming from somewhere nearby. It sounded like an animal of some sort. Without waiting for Banner to pick up on it, I began to silently explore the area. There were no animals in sight and the sound was coming from nearby so the only place that it could be hiding was under the porch. I migrated down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible, and scoured the base where the wood met the ground. Sure enough, a fairly large hole had been carved into the wood, large enough for a rather large animal to fit through. The hole was too smooth and the semicircle too perfect for a mere animal to have created it, I hadn't done it and Mira certainly hadn't so that left mother.

"Baby animals?" Banner had finally caught on and they were heading my way.

"Not just any baby animals, four domestic, seemingly motherless and definitely hungry kittens." The two of the squatted in front of the hole, cutting off my view.

"Oh yeah. They're very, very young. The mother shouldn't be far off. It would be best if we left them alone."

"I saw her this morning. She left the den at dawn but I've been watching and she hasn't come back."

"Then something must've happened to her. She wouldn't be away for more than an hour or two at the most." He stuck his hand into the nest very slowly.

"Christ! They're way below safe body temperature. We need to get them inside now." I made myself visible.

"And how do you plan to take care of them without their mother?"

"One thing at a time." He retracted his hand and in it as cradled the tiniest, most helpless creature I had ever seen, "Take this one and the next one, your hands are the largest." Well, that was partially true, I had the longest fingers. The kitten was so tiny, I could close my thumb and largest finger around its tiny body, "And keep it as warm as possible." I hadn't known what to expect but this kitten wasn't very cute. It's head was much bigger than the rest of its body, its fur was thin and short, and it hardly twitched in my hand.