Knowing that Dr. Lowenstein would not be there when they arrived at the Med Centre, it had prompted Loki and Beverlee to feel quite uncomfortable. 

For them, aside from his office, everything they knew of this location in the auxiliary SHIELD facility - the waiting room, the examination room and the patient ward - had Lowenstein's fingerprints all over it.

When they reached the waiting room, a doctor was already there waiting to escort Loki to the examination room. 

"I'm Doctor Reiss," he said to Loki and Beverlee, "I'm temporarily taking over Tom's workload until they can find someone permanent," he looked at Loki, "Please follow me."

As Beverlee was about to also follow the doctor, she was prevented by   Nurse Halsey, who placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.  

Beverlee struggled, "Let me go! I have permission to accompany him for these visits."

"Not for this type of visit," Halsey said quietly. "He may be innocent, but we have to be sure of that."

Loki overheard Beverlee and turned around to face her. He attempted to walk back when one of the armed guards put a hand on his arm in warning. Loki gave the guard a hard stare until Doctor Reiss put a hand on the guard's shoulder - allowing  Loki to go to his friend.

"Beverlee, it's all right," Loki said softly, "I'll be okay. Maybe they can make sense of why I'm having these nightmares," he touched her cheek, "when they're done, we'll get some lunch?"

"Yes," she replied, just as soft, "I'd like that." She took his hand from her cheek and kissed his palm. "I'll be right here waiting for you."

He gave her a soft smile, then turned around and left with the doctor and the guards.

**** 

As Nurse Halsey returned to her duties, the armed guards stood by the entryway which left Beverlee to sit in the waiting room alone.

Picking up a magazine from a pile on the coffee table, she attempted to read. But in her current state of mind, neither could she focus or seem to have the interest, and returned it to the pile. 

She looked around the waiting area and remembered fondly how Thor, Coulson, and Lowenstein gathered here when she first became Loki's advocate and told them his testimony when he was under suspicion of murder. 

She remembered Coulson's words to her, "... He just can't stop himself from getting into trouble, can he?" 

And then Thor's, "I am simply concerned that when Loki is freed... he in time, may put you in a bad place."

And now, Loki was in trouble again - and she was guilty by association.

But she could see the other side of this - and not many would unless they were placed in this very situation. Loki was innocent and whatever shade was cast in her direction, it would also clear up - once the powers that be were able to recognize that.  

However, she still had some worry.  Despite Coulson being more than tolerant of her friend, she knew many others, if given a chance, would not forgo the pleasure of crowing over Loki's discomfort.  

And without Lowenstein, getting out of this situation could become difficult.

****

Beverlee folded her arms, clutching the fabric of the sweater closer for security. She wasn't sure how long it was going to take for the medical staff to examine Loki, and it bothered her that she wasn't allowed to be there to observe the procedure.

They better not hurt him...

When suddenly she heard her name being called. She turned her head to see who it was - but it wasn't Loki.

"Beverlee?" It was Minerva from the Initiative. She and the rest of the group had entered the waiting room. 

Considering she didn't know how things currently stood with them, Beverlee immediately felt nervous. She swallowed hard as they continued to approach, and didn't bother to hide her uneasy expression. 

Let them think I'm worried about Loki - which is the truth.

Beverlee stood up - ready for their worst. 

It was to Beverlee's surprise when Minerva pulled her into a hug, and the others gathered around for support.

"Are you all right?" Minerva asked. "We had a meeting and Coulson and Thor told us what happened. We're all still in shock. But Thor told us you were there when Loki..."

"Yes, I was..." Beverlee closed her eyes, "it was an accident." She clutched Minerva with more intensity as she remembered that moment, then whispered, "Loki's not to blame. Lowenstein meant a lot to us. Please tell me you're not here to stir up more trouble for him."

"No, not at all," Sasha said before Minerva could answer. "We wanted to pay our respects to the medical staff who worked with him, see if there was something we could do... It's simply a coincidence we ran into you."

"So if you're here, that means Loki is around here too?" Jamal asked curiously. 

"Yes," Beverlee replied, releasing the hug from Minerva, "he's being examined to make sure he's still fit to be part of the Initiative. But... I'm worried because I don't know the staff very well, and a Nurse Halsey doesn't seem to be exactly amicable."

"Princess, don't fret. We know the staff," Blitz said, "and I can tell you everyone who works here is very good at what they do -  they are all very humane. Nurse Halsey is actually quite nice and has tended to Loki on some post-assignments," he touched her arm, "don't take it personally, everyone is dealing with the loss of Lowenstein, so cut her some slack." 

Beverlee nodded to acknowledge Blitz's words.

"What are you wearing?!" Sasha said with concern, "I know you had clothes when we met you last night for dinner."

"My clothes... are being held hostage," Beverlee said in a deadpan tone, "until the SHIELD Agents and Med Techs are done examining the crime scene which is Loki's quarters." She shrugged and smiled sheepishly, "Even Loki was still wearing his pyjamas."

"You both are too cute for words," Sasha said, looking at Beverlee with a sweet smile. "Despite what he was going through, I knew Loki couldn't resist having some pre-Valentine's Day time with you."

"I wasn't exactly staying over for that reason," Beverlee said blushing, "but... spending time with him is always a pleasure."

It was then a nurse came over to where Beverlee was in the waiting area. She appeared to have a frown on her face. 

"Beverlee? Please follow me, Dr. Reiss wants to talk to you."

Since Loki had not returned from his examination, what Beverlee just heard didn't sound too good. It brought on another bout of nervousness.

"Go ahead, Beverlee," Minerva said, putting a gentle hand on her arm, "we'll wait for you here.  It will be all right." 

Beverlee nodded, bravely smiled at Minerva then left with the nurse.

Lunch was going to have to wait. 

****

For Beverlee, it felt surreal sitting in Dr. Lowenstein's office, especially when seeing Dr. Reiss sit in his chair.  She didn't want to be here, and was very close to running from this place - but then reminded herself this was for Loki's sake. Taking a deep breath, she waited for the doctor to speak.

"Loki is resting in the patient ward at the moment," Reiss said,  "you can visit him after our talk."

Beverlee nodded to convey she understood - and knew at this point she wasn't going to like what she was going to hear.

 "We are lucky that Tom developed a makeshift device that helps us examine your friend. The information we glean from it isn't complete by any means, but at least we get a rough overview."

"And?" Beverlee asked, hoping he would get to the point.

"We discovered something that may explain why Loki is having these nightmares..."

"That's great," Beverlee said, "what did you find?"

"We're a bit stumped on how to classify it, but for now, we're calling it an... energy cyst."

"An... energy cyst?"

"Here, take a look," Reiss called up a scan on the desktop computer screen and swivelled the monitor so Beverlee could see, "it's that purple spot right there. We looked at Loki's previous medical records, and we found he had been shot with a modified Chitauri rifle some time ago, and this cyst seems to be indicative of that wound. We don't know how it manifested itself, but there it is."

"Okay... so, how do we treat it?"

"We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Beverlee began to get upset, "SHIELD finds all kinds of alien tech and you don't know how to deal with this?"

"Even alien tech has a period of research and development for years before it gets approved for any kind of usage... Beverlee, believe me, we are trying to come up with a method to extract the cyst. We recently found  that Tom had compiled some notes on Loki's physiology that might help, but we have to make sure the procedure is safe for all parties involved."

"And what happens to Loki if you can't remove the cyst?"

"We don't know that either, but we suspect that considering what he's been experiencing... in time it's going to get worse."

"I'd like to see Loki now, please."

 A curveball had been thrown.

But Beverlee was not about to stop swinging.