You woke, hearing familiar lines spoken in an unfamiliar accent: "She was such a little girl that one did not expect to see such a look on her small face. It would have been an old look for a child of twelve, and Sara Crewe was only seven. The fact was, however, that she was always dreaming and thinking odd things and could not herself remember any time when she had not been thinking things about grown-up people and the world they belonged to. She felt as if she had lived a long, long time." The words were familiar, from one of your favorite books, A Little Princess. The voice reading them wasn't your parents' or even Uncle Tony's, though. It was a male voice, warm as honey with a British accent. You opened your eyes and looked over at the speaker, trying to think through the fog in your mind to determine who it was. You could finally see that it was Loki, sitting in the chair next to your infirmary bed. He paused his reading when he heard you move.

"Loki?" you asked, your voice a hoarse croak as you moved to sit up slowly, your body heavy and sluggish from whatever they'd given you for the pain. You saw the concern in his expression, in his eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently. You nodded. He clearly wasn't convinced when he asked: "How are you really feeling?" he rephrased the question in order to get the truth out of you. God of lies, of course he could change the question to suit his needs.

"Like I flew across a room and hit a wall at full speed," you admitted with a groan. The pain meds were wearing off quickly now that you were awake.

"I did not mean to wake you. You should get more rest," he told you gently. With a quick glance around to look for onlookers, and a mischievous grin, he reached one glowing hand out to you and touched your cheek, the chain between his wrists still clanging at every movement.

You didn't know what he was doing at first, until the pain left you in a moment and you were filled with a warm honeyed feeling. His magic was drawing you back down to sleep no mater how much you struggled against it.

"Cheater," you murmured as your eyes were fighting to shut.

"Rest, love. You are safe and you need to heal," he told you gently as he helped you lie back down.

"Thought you couldn't do magic in chains," your voice was getting slurred as you fought to stay awake a little longer.

"So do they," he replied gently with his Cheshire cat grin. "Now rest." You eyes closed and you fell back into the depths of sleep.

*

It felt like hours later when you finally woke again. You sat up much more steadily this time and the pain didn't return immediately. Loki was still by your bedside, reading a book silently this time. One of the nurses came rushing over. "He refused to leave your side," she indicated Loki. "He wasn't doing any harm, so we didn't force the issue, but we can make him leave..." she offered. You shook your head.

"No, he can stay, but can I go back to my own room soon?" you hated hearing the whine in your voice, but you wanted to get out of this hospital environment. It reminded you too much of being in the actual hospital after you parents died.

"As soon as the doctor checks you out," she replied gently. She scurried off to go get the doctor in question, seeing the desperation in your eyes to get out of here.

You looked over to Loki when she had left and saw he had looked up from his book. "Has Uncle Tony come back?" you asked him, wondering why he was in the spot you expected Tony to be in. You also expected that their arguing would have woken you. The two clearly seemed to hate each other. You also couldn't imagine Tony staying away while you were hurt, especially when it had been his fault.

Loki shook his head. "Director Fury is keeping him away. I believe he is receiving some sort of punishment duty for what he did," he explained with a shrug. You felt bad for your uncle if that was the case, but you couldn't really be surprised. You could be surprised that Tony actually agreed to do the punishment duty. He didn't listen to anyone. Except Pepper. And apparently occasionally Fury.

The doctor finally came over, did his examination and cleared you to leave, sending you back to your room with pain meds and instructions to not exert yourself. You were also warned that you were going to be very sore for awhile. Loki stepped out of the infirmary room while you dressed in the pajamas someone had gotten from your room. It would be no use struggling into real clothes just to change again when you made it upstairs. "We can't spare anyone from down here today to take you up to your room. Do you want us to call one of the girls?" The nurse asked, offering to call one of the supers to help you.

You shook your head firmly. "I can make it upstairs by myself," you told her, giving her a well-practiced reassuring smile. You didn't need a babysitter.

"I will make sure she arrives safely to her chambers," Loki spoke up while the nurse and doctor were arguing about letting you go on your own. "I am returning to my own chambers anyway. It would be no trouble to escort Lady Stark." Both the nurse and doctor visibly hesitated, but you walked over to Loki, a bit shaky and very sore. You were sure you were limping and hobbling like an old lady. Loki stepped toward you, reaching to steady you, but his chains prevented that, at least easily.

You smiled up at him, appreciating the gesture. "I'm fine," you reassured him. Maybe if you told the lie enough times, people would start to believe you. Maybe.

You led the way out of the infirmary before anyone could protest anymore. You were tired and really just wanted to go back up to your room. Loki took a few long strides to catch up with you, clearly surprised you were moving so quickly with how much you were hobbling. He offered you his arm when he caught up.

You gave him a warm smile and laid your hand on his offered arm gratefully, letting him escort you, as he said he was going to. Neither of you mentioned how much you were leaning on him. "You were injured because of your friendship with me," he said as you walked to the elevator. You just weren't up to taking the stairs that day. Which you felt was understandable, given the circumstances.

"I was injured because my uncle lost his temper," you replied firmly as you and Loki stepped into the elevator. "It's not your fault. Uncle Tony can't dictate who I can be friends with," you told him just as firmly. It was an old argument with Tony who wanted to do what he thought was best for you. NO matter what you thought about the subject. "Thank you for healing me," you aded a moment later, changing the subject as you got into the elevator.

"I could not let you die," he replied, sounding upset that you had even implied he would.

"I didn't say you would, but there were other ways besides using magic. You could have let them cart me off to the infirmary to heal the mortal way," that would have sucked ass, but it was something he had been within his rights to do. He was under no obligation to heal you.

"You are still healing the mortal way," he reminded you dryly. It wasn't lost on him that you were basically one giant bruise and leaning on him for support.

You looked up at him. "The only reason I'm standing right now instead of lying in a hospital bed is due to your interference and we both know it." The elevator dinged and you entered the hall that your rooms were on. You stopped in horror when you were walking past one of the mirrors in the hallway.

"What is the problem?" he asked, concerned as you stared at yourself. The entire left side of your face was one giant purple and green swollen bruise. You reached a hand up to touch it. Loki grabbed your wrist, stopping you. "It will only hurt if you touch it." He told you gently. "It will fade in a few days, a week at the most depending on how stupid your uncle is," he said the final words with a mischievous grin.

"What did you do?" you asked him. His mischievous grin said that he was up to something.

"Just avoid touching it and it will not pain you," he replied without giving any more information than that. Unhelpful god.

"That's not helpful, Loki," you reminded him, but you were tired and still needed to heal, so you didn't argue any further. You opened the door to your room when you and Loki reached it. Loki stopped you before you could go inside. "Wha-" you started stupidly, but he walked in past you, checking the safety of your three rooms before he let you enter. He was just like all the other supers around here.

"Your rooms are safe," he finally told you, seeming pleased with himself. You fought not to roll your eyes. He meant well. You entered your sitting room, joining him. "I leave you here in safety." You couldn't help being surprised that he was actually going to leave you alone. It seemed out of character for him when he'd gone through all the trouble of walking you up here. "I am just across the hall if you need anything, but it would be better for your safety were your uncle not to find me in your chambers when he comes to check on you." You didn't know how to argue with him, despite not really wanting to be alone. He was right. Tony would kill him if he caught him in your room.

"I'll leave the sitting-room door unlocked if you need more books, you're welcome to come help yourself," you finally replied. That was the best you could offer him right now. You weren't in shape to defend him against Tony and he wouldn't defend himself.

"That is a very kind offer. Until later, Lady Stark," he lifted your hand and pressed a soft kiss to your knuckles before he left you alone in your suite. You gathered the new books Tony had bought you and went to your bedroom to make a nest of blankets on your bed where you could spend the day reading and watching Disney movies.

You weren't interrupted until Helene came to bring you dinner. You jumped up to greet her when your bedroom door opened. "Helene, you didn't have to come up here!" You protested. You never asked for or expected special treatment from her. She had a lot of work to do taking care of so many supers. "You should have just called me, I would have come down for dinner." You continued your protesting.

She just smiled and shook her head. "You aren't well. I wasn't going to make you come downstairs. Leave the plate on your coffee table. I'll come collect it later. Get some rest, dear," she bid you as she left to take care of the rest of her duties. You knew that by tomorrow you would be tired of resting, though you weren't looking forward to going back to school and making up all of the work you had missed either. Or all of your classmates seeing the giant bruise on your face. That was a problem for tomorrow-Kat. Right at that moment, you had to focus on resting, on getting better, on healing.

Tony came to visit later that evening. He was dressed for patrol, though, so you knew he didn't have much time. He rushed to your side as soon as he came in. He hadn't even bothered knocking before he barged into your room. Any other day you'd kill him for that, but you let it slide that day, with everything that had happened. "Kat! You're out of the infirmary. Thank god!" He exclaimed. Then he got a good look at your face and faltered. You saw him pale, looking horrified. "I'm so sorry, Kat. I never meant to hurt you,"

"I know," you told him. You really did know he hadn't meant it. That hadn't meant he hadn't still done it. And that things would have been a lot worse had Loki not been there to save your life.

"I couldn't, couldn't stand seeing you with that monster. He's dangerous, Kat," he tried, and failed, to press that point upon you.

"He's no more dangerous than any of the other supers around here," you reminded him coldly. It was a bit cruel of you to remind him of that fact right that moment, but you hadn't cared. He needed to be brought down a peg, and seeing what he'd done to you was, unfortunately, the fastest way to do that. He at least had the grace to look ashamed.

He sighed heavily. "Just be careful, Kat. We can't trust him. I know your heart is too big and you seem able to make friends with everyone, just please be careful,"

"I am being careful," you replied. Really, you were. It wasn't your fault that Tony had lost his temper and taken it out on you.

"I have to go, will you please lock your door for once?" he asked with a smirk. He knew you too well. You ignored that request and got out of bed to see him out of your room. He would be gone the rest of the night for patrol.

"Be careful," you bid him instead of promising to lock your door. Which you wouldn't do. He reluctantly left you to go on his patrol. You knew he would be back just fine. Patrol was mostly helping the police. It was when they went on missions that you really worried. That was usually when they were dealing with villains, actual villains trying to take over the city or worse.

You closed your sitting-room door, but left it unlocked for a certain bookworm. You saw that Helene had returned and taken your dinner plate away, but there was something new on the coffee table, a book that wasn't yours. You picked it up and saw the note placed on top of it in an elegant script in a masculine hand.

<This is a collection of children's tales from Asgard. I have cast an illusion on the text so it will appear in English for you. I thought you might enjoy the stories. >

You smiled and took the book and the note into your bedroom. After a nice hot shower to wash away the last of the hospital smell from your skin, you curled up to enjoy the borrowed book.

-Thank you for lending me the book- you texted Loki before you went to bed that night, tales of Asgard floating through your dreams that night.