You were rudely awoken about thirty minutes after you and Loki had finally gone to bed by someone pounding on your sittingroom door. You and Loki had stayed up talking until the very moment that Frigga's spell had faded. You hadn't wanted to waste a moment of having your voice back.

You went to see who it was, leaving Loki sleeping. You were a little surprised he hadn't woken, but he had used a lot of magic yesterday and it had been a long day. You did take a moment to note how adorable he was while he was sleeping. You also drew a dagger before you opened the door. You were grumpy at being woken, but not stupid.

Tony was standing outside of your sittingroom. You sheathed the dagger when you realized it was him and just glared at him, wondering what on Earth was so important that he had to wake you at 3:30am. "Kat, good. There's an- what are you wearing?" Tony asked, staring at your outfit. You looked down to see what you was wearing. You didn't remember what you had put on thirty minutes ago to fall into bed. You had stayed up way too late so none of Frigga's spell got wasted, and you hadn't paid attention to what you threw on for bed. No wonder Tony was upset. You were wearing one of Loki's button-down shirts, and no pants. You gestured to his outfit, which was a pair of boxer shorts and nothing else. He glared. You stepped back to slam your sittingroom door in his face and go back to bed. "No, sorry. Kat, there's an emergency. It's Veronica." Those words stopped you cold. You stepped out of your sittingroom, grabbed him by the arm and teleported the pair of you downstairs to the infirmary. "I hate when you do that," Tony growled. He wasn't used to teleporting yet.

"Bay 2!" Julia called when she saw you teleport in. You nodded brusquely and ran for the emergency bay, dragging Tony along behind you.

You skidded to a halt at Veronica's bedside. The sight that awaited you was horrible. She had been gutted. You had seen wounds like this before, but you couldn't deal with that now. Both she and her unborn baby were in dire danger. You shoved your sleeves up and placed your glowing hands on her, throwing healing power into her and the baby, trying to save them both.

You had to take a risk then. /Claire, get Loki. He's asleep in my suite. I need him here now/ you hated using telepathy with those who didn't have telepathy as a power. You were afraid of hurting them. You didn't have a choice now. Your hands were too preoccupied trying to keep Veronica alive that you couldn't sign. You needed Loki's help with this healing. You projected your thoughts so Claire and Tony could both hear you, it was less dangerous that way than it would be connecting directly with their minds. Claire created a portal and disappeared into your bedroom.

"I thought healing was a... what was it?...single caster spell?" Tony asked while you worked. He was trying so hard to understand magic.

/It usually is. Unless the healers have worked together for years to be able to pull of the harmony needed to not interfere with the other's work. Loki and I are soulbound. He can jump in and not affect the working/ you explained to Tony quickly. Claire dragged Loki back through the portal a moment later. He looked like she had literally dragged him out of the bed. He saw you elbows deep in blood and healing magic and instantly came to your side. He jumped into healing mode just as quickly as you had. /Help!/ you invited Loki, more of an order than an invitation. However, it was rude to jump into a magical working without a formal invitation. His hands glowed green and he had them on Veronica an instant later. His healing powers weren't as strong as your, since you had your own healing power, plus the power you had gotten from him, but you needed the help on this healing.

/I have the baby/ Loki told you. You could focus your attention on Veronica if he was keeping the baby alive. You shifted your focus. You had healed this exact same wound exactly three times previously. You knew in the back of your head where it had come from, but you were too preoccupied with the healing to consider it fully at the moment. You knew this wound intimately, though, which made it easier to heal. It was still a hell of a healing.

After over an hour of work and non-stop healing, you managed to get both Veronica and the baby healed. Tony wrapped his arms around you to keep you standing once the blue glow disappeared from your hands. You sagged against him, but was careful not to touch him with your blood soaked hands. "Kat?" he asked, concerned. "Are you ok?" you nodded, but couldn't reply any better. "Liar," he scolded gently. He lifted you gently into his arms. You looked frantically for Loki. He had drained himself with that healing too. He was still standing on his own, though. "Do either of you know why Balder would be targeting Veronica?" Tony asked. At least he was smart enough to know that this was Balder's work.

Loki blinked quickly, trying to focus. He had drained too much in this healing too. "It was a warning," he finally replied. "A warning to us." His words were less elegant, more blunt, but you could tell he was having trouble finding the right words, especially in English. Yes, he had Allspeak, but he had to concentrate on it. "Balder wants Kat for his master plan. He hurt someone who cannot speak, like Kat cannot speak, to let us know that he is here and he is coming for her,"

"Would you speak English?" Tony growled at Loki. Loki just blinked, confused. You realized he had been speaking his native Asgardian once Tony spoke. He was too out of it to realize. And you hadn't realized because of your Allspeak and the soulbond. You sighed and somehow got Tony to put you down so you could sign out a translation for what Loki had said. You wrapped your arms around Loki's waist when you had finished so you could hold each other up. "Claire, make a portal back upstairs for them. We'll talk more about this tomorrow when you two aren't so dead," Tony told you. You nodded and made your way through Claire's portal. Loki started looking better as soon as you were safely back upstairs.

/You ok?/ you thought at him.

"I am alright, darling. That was just a larger healing than anticipated. Holding babies to this world before they are even born is not an easy feat," he explained.

/Tell me about it/ you groaned. You looked down at what had once been a perfectly white shirt. It was now soaked in blood. /I owe you a new shirt/ you commented. Loki chuckled.

"I will just create a new one. It is no trouble," he replied. "You can have the first shower," he offered. You were both thinking more clearly now, still exhausted, but at least able to function.

/Just join me/ you suggested, though the thought made you turn all sorts of shades of red. Maybe even the magenta-red of your hair. /It will get us both back to bed faster/ you added. Then stopped dead when you realized how that sounded. /I meant for sleep!/ you added quickly. Offering to let him shower with you was enough of a step for one day. He spun you to face him. You looked up into his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked softly, gently. "We do not have to do this," he reminded you.

/We need to get the blood off of us and I don't want you waking me when you climb back into bed/ you answered, pragmatically. He gave you a look. He didn't believe your answer. He was so careful since you'd been raped before. You appreciated it, though you trusted Loki and knew he wouldn't hurt you or press you farther than you were comfortable with.

"I will gladly help you get the blood out of your hair," he replied with a gentle smile. "As long as you are sure." He was overly cautious and overly patient. You just wanted to go to bed and you both needed to get the blood off of you to accomplish that goal.

/How does blood always end up in my hair?/ you grumbled and stepped into the bathroom. You got the shower started and kept your back turned to Loki as you stripped off his shirt that you were wearing. You vanished it to the trash. It was beyond ruined, also technically a biohazard. You stepped into the steaming hot shower and just stared at the drain when the water ran red. There was so much blood.

You stiffened when Loki joined you, but he was a perfect gentleman, as usual, and just scrubbed the blood from your hair while grumbling about how you managed to get blood in your hair in the first place. You tried not to look at him, not here, this was a purely pragmatic activity for getting clean so you could sleep before you had to go to class in the morning. You couldn't help it though, and you very much appreciated the view. You blushed and turned back to to facing the wall. This was pragmatic, not remotely sexy or romantic, you reminded yourself a few more times while you scrubbed and scrubbed the blood off of your arms and the rest of you it had somehow gotten on. You did look once at Loki to make sure there was no blood on him that he couldn't reach himself. That was of course the only reason. It couldn't be that you wanted to see a naked Loki. That would just be ridiculous. There wasn't any blood on him, so you slipped out of the shower as soon as you were clean, leaving Loki the rest of the hot water and wrapping yourself in a big fluffy towel. you went back to your bedroom and pulled a pair of pajamas from your dresser. You didn't feel like using magic you didn't need to waste just to summon clothes. Loki had summoned a pair of pajama pants to wear when he returned to the bedroom a couple minutes later.

You curled back up in our usual position in the bed, with your head on his chest so you could listen to his heartbeat. "Thank you," he whispered as he held you safely in his arms.

/For?/ you asked him only half-awake at best.

"Trusting me in there," he gestured vaguely to the bathroom. "And for calling for my help," he added. You nodded. It was impressive that you had actually called for his help. You usually forced your way through on your own.

/I love you/ you replied, though the words just didn't have the same feel when they were said telepathically. You knew he felt the difference too.