Chapter 6

When the bell rang, I went to the door and opened it to find a grinning Lily holding her teddy bear. I picked her up and swung her around. She giggled and held on tight, her red hair flying everywhere. I put her down and turned to her dad. He looked pale and exhausted.

"Thank you so much, Eb." He murmured.

I shrugged. "She's no trouble. I'll drop her off at school tomorrow." He nodded and sighed.

"I'll call later to check on her." He bent and kissed Lily on the cheek noisily. She giggled and hugged him goodbye. I closed the door and once we heard the car drive off something was shoved into my back pocket. I glared at Lily and dug it out, finding forty bucks.

"I'm gonna get your dad for this." I grumbled. "He knows I don't mind."

"He said I'm a handful and you deserve a Nobel prize for taking me." Lily grinned. "What's a Nobel prize?"

I rolled my eyes. "A special prize for really good people."

"Oh okay!" Satisfied, she walked slowly towards Loki. He was standing by the kitchen but quietly sat on the couch, seeming to understand the concept of being smaller for kids. She went right up to him and grinned.

"Hi." She said in her little voice. "I'm Lily. Lillian Jones, detective!" She held out her bear. "This is Watson."

Surprisingly, Loki chuckled and shook Watson's paw. "You seem to have stolen Sherlock's precious friend. What will he do without him?"

Lily grinned and hugged Watson. "I asked Sherly. She said it's okay." Loki's brows rose a bit and Lily explained. "Sherly is my dog. She's a big German shepherd!" She held her arms wide to explain how big her dog was.

I smiled and picked Lily up. "C'mon you. Are you hungry?" She nodded and pointed to the kitchen.

"Pizza!"

"We don't have pizza."

"Spaghetti!"

I laughed and walked to the kitchen. "Way ahead of you, kiddo." I set her on the counter and grabbed the plates.

"Ms. Gray?"

"Hmm?"

"Your boyfriend's really tall."

I heard him laughing again. "Loki shut up!" I shouted. He snorted but his laughter died down. "He's not my boyfriend." I had to bite back my smile.

"But he's been here a really long time."

I turned around to find him giving me a pointed look while leaning across the couch to see me around the wall. "Yeah well... Yeah."

"He's nice. He said hi to Watson."

I smiled. "I saw." I was surprised. Maybe he liked kids? I saw him walk in the kitchen from the corner of my eye. Lily bounced off the counter and ran to the door, returning with a sketchbook. I'd gotten it for her on her last birthday. She was turning out to be pretty skilled in sketching. Schoolwork was a whole different story though. I helped her onto the counter and she scooted all the way back, focused on her work.

Loki watched her for a moment and then turned back to me. "Had she no one else to go to?" He whispered.

"Her grandfather is really strict and she hates it. Besides, he's old and half deaf. He's not the best to be taking care of her."

"She's... Tolerable." He said. I turned to him, smiling.

"I didn't think you liked kids."

He shrugged. "Nor did I."

My smile only widened. "She'll tire you out soon enough. She can be a little crazy. Thus the state of her hair. She's always running."

"Noticed." He turned back to me. "Your phone rang a moment ago. It said 'Don't answer.'" He raised his brows.

"Oh that's my ex." I waved it away, too busy putting a frozen loaf of garlic bread in the oven.

"You were with someone before?" He sounded a little upset by this and I looked at him quickly, frowning.

"Jerk named Cam. He hunts around here sometimes. You'll see him eventually."

"Why do you ignore him?"

Lily looked up. "'Cause he's a no-good son of a-" I clamped my hand over her mouth and smiled sheepishly at Loki.

"She may or may not have been here the last time he came around. I may have said things."

Loki smiled quizzically but said nothing more. We stood in silence while I browned the beef. "Stir the sauce, will ya'?" I handed him a spoon.

He leaned back against the counter, stirring with one hand and looking over Lily's shoulder at the same time. Putting the spoon down, he held a hand out.

"May I?"

She handed it to him and he started drawing. I finished the beef and turned off the fires, turning to look at them. Lily was leaning over his shoulder, her eyes wide. He stared down at the paper, biting his lip as he drew. I pulled my phone from my pocket and quickly took a picture. Hearing it, he glared at me from over the paper.

"Get rid of that."

"Never." I stuck my tongue out. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the paper. The oven beeped so I fixed me and Lily a plate before sitting down in front of the tv. We sat on the floor together, legs crossed and plates on the table. "Hungry, prince?" I called.

He looked up from the paper. "Always."

"Then get a plate." I grinned at his scowl. He fixed a plate and sat behind us on the couch.

"I want you to know you're only safe from

punishment because Lillian is present." He growled in my ear. I gave him a pointedly unimpressed look. Punishment in the last few days had come to mean I would be spontaneously attacked with some stupid prank of his. Yesterday, he tickled me in the middle of my nap. I didn't appreciate it but I had sprayed him with water when I was doing the dishes so I deserved it.

He kept drawing while he ate and finally finished, turning the paper back to Lily. She stared at it, her mouth open. It was just a quick sketch of her in a small Sherlock outfit with Watson hanging from her hand. She held a magnifying glass up to her eye, inspecting something. "Isn't it cool!" She shouted, grabbing it. "I'm gonna ask Daddy to hang it up in my room!"

I smiled, turning away when my phone pinged. It was Liv.

Long time no speaky! Whatcha doin?

"Babysitting. Lily says hi."

Hi!! Creepy cutie leave yet?

I snickered. "He's staying a while longer. And creepy cutie?"

Right. He's cute but he's creepy. You wanna tell me who he actually is? Cuz high school friend ain't holdin up with me.

I knew I couldn't keep it from her forever. I cringed. It was going to be one hell of a conversation but I would have to do it alone. There would probably be shouting. She'd call me stupid. Mom would heard all about it too. How would I even tell them? Oh, he crashed in my backyard so I let him stay? Oh and he asked me to be his girlfriend? They'd throw me in the looney bin.

I sighed. "If I promise to call tomorrow and explain, will you promise to keep an open mind about it?"

Already scared. Fine. Has Mom told you about Geena?

"No...." I searched for the awkward faced emoji. "She told me about Bakay..."

WHAT WHO'S BAKAY

"WHO'S GEENA!" Satisfied that I had bought myself some time, I turned from my phone to look at Lily.

"So..." I started. They both looked at me. "Ice cream?"

I almost wished I caught their grins on camera.

When we returned home from a - thankfully - brief and uneventful run to Bruster's, I put my bag on the counter and toed my shoes off. I went to my room and put Lily on the bed before moving to get her bag.

"Ms. Gray?"

I turned in the doorway, my hand hovering on the light switch. Lily sat up blearily and rubbed her eyes. "Can I stay with you?"

I smiled. "I was planning on it." She nodded sleepily. "You wanna call Mama before you go to sleep?" She seemed to perk up at the thought of this so I grabbed the phone and dialed her dad's cell. Handing it to her, I went to get her things. Stopping in the living room, I smiled to see Loki sprawled on the pullout. His feet dangled over the edge, one bouncing lightly in the air. His head rested on his bent arm and the other hand tapped aimlessly on his leg. I gave the top of his head a goodnight pat and closed the bedroom door.

Lily said goodnight to her parents and hung the phone up. Taking turns with the shower, we got ready for bed.