Returning to the gazebo, both of us feeling more refreshed mentally, we sat down on the couch facing Coulson, Lowenstein and Thor.

"Good thing Beverlee found you, Loki," Coulson said authoritatively, "your absence almost caused you to be thrown back in your cell."

"So I was informed," Loki said, unmoved by Coulson's thinly-veiled threat, making a head gesture in reference to myself.

"I hate to say 'I told you so,' but..." I said to Coulson and just left the statement hang. Coulson nodded in acknowledgement.

"While we're here," Dr. Lowenstein spoke, "I would like to examine my patient," he stood up, and walked over to Loki, "may I?"

His request seemed to make Loki very uncomfortable. Loki briefly glanced at Coulson then at me, before addressing the doctor, "can't we... wait till we get back to the Med Centre for that?" he asked shyly.

"Tom, what was your intention?" I asked, trying to see if I could alleviate Loki's unease.

"I was going to see how the contusion on his side was faring," Lowenstein said, "there's a flap on Loki's clothing that I can easily unsnap and expose that area."

Loki looked at me and mouthed the words 'thank you.'

"Then you may," Loki said, his voice no longer shy.

Sitting on the edge of the coffee table, Lowenstein reached and unsnapped the specific flap of Loki's garment. Pushing the fabric to the side, Lowenstein looked at the contusion for a moment.

"Even though it's been less than a day, I think I can see some difference," Lowenstein said. "I just wish I knew if it was that salve we applied or your physiology."

"Perhaps... a bit of both?" Loki shrugged.

"So a Chitauri weapon did that?!" Coulson said, looking at the contusion. Aside from the pictures he saw on my smartphone, it was the first time seeing it up close, "it must..."

"Hurt?" Loki said cutting Coulson off, "yes, it does."

"I was going to say," Coulson said, "it must give you... pause for thought."

Loki went quiet, the look on his face clearly showed that Coulson's words wounded him.

This angered me. As a show of support, and hopefully, possible defiance to Coulson, I took Loki's hand. He turned to look at me with a small, grateful smile.

He then turned to look at Coulson and simply said, very quietly, "yes. It does."

With that, my anger immediately transformed into huge affection for my friend. I had to hold myself back from telling Coulson what he could do with his preconceived notions.

"Coulson," Thor spoke up, getting everyone's attention, "why are you dredging up the past?" He briefly glanced at Loki and me before returning his gaze to the Agent In Charge.

Now it seemed to be Coulson's turn to become quiet.

"I'm... sorry, Loki," Coulson said, just as quietly. "After what happened years ago, and now seeing you face-to-face... The memories return - full force."

"You are not alone with such memories," Loki said, about to say more until Dr. Lowenstein interrupted him.

"Loki, I just need to do one thing more for the examination," he said, having waited patiently during the mini-drama, "and I apologize in advance. Tell me when this hurts," he proceeded to place two fingers on the area of the contusion, then gently pressed.

"Ow," Loki moaned three seconds after, his voice sounding like a soft growl.

"Well, that's promising," Lowenstein said, pulling a small item from a pocket of his white coat. "All the same, just for peace of mind, I'm going to apply a dermal patch. It should help ease any pain you may have. We think."

Loki looked at the patch Lowenstein was about to apply, his eyes then moving up to the doctor.

"It won't hurt," Lowenstein explained. "The medicine will absorb into your skin then into the bloodstream."

Carefully he applied the patch, gently pressing on it to make sure it properly adhered.

Lowenstein put the fabric flap back in place then snapped it closed.

"Thank you, Doctor, for... patching me up," Loki said with amusement.

"Okay you two," Coulson said, "go and freshen up and do it quickly. We're heading to the cafeteria, for the most important meal of the day."

"Breakfast?" I asked.

"That too," Coulson smiled.

*************

We learned Coulson had brought Loki's wheelchair to the gazebo for a quicker estimated time of arrival to the cafeteria. The look on my friend's face was sheer disappointment, but understood if we didn't want to miss breakfast, slow was not a speed we could afford.

As we exited 'Room 36' and the doors closed behind us, I felt my heart sink a bit. I didn't want to leave this pleasant place. However, it wasn't so bad. To me, all of this didn't really feel like reality. Considering being in this building, being with my friend Loki, along with Thor who was continuing to win my favour,  the people I met,  things I had seen and done in such a short time... I felt like I was Dorothy in Oz.

And I couldn't ask for more.

Walking down the familiar hallways to get to our destination, a man wearing a plaid shirt and holding a strange piece of equipment crossed our path. He seemed very preoccupied with the equipment and was about to bump into us until Thor reached out grasped the man's arm.

The man looked up, and when he saw the tall person in front of him, a huge smile spread upon his face.

 "Thor?!" he said with a pleasant surprise.

"Hello, Eric." Thor said, smiling at his old friend, briefly putting a hand on his arm. "It is good to see you again."

"What are you doing here?"

"SHIELD business, Dr. Selvig," Coulson interrupted, trying to hurry things along, "but we don't want to miss breakfast at the cafeteria."

"They are serving pancakes today, really good, they're fluff..." Selvig trailed off when he saw Loki part of our group, and a disturbed expression soon appeared on his face, "Loki? I thought he was, you were..."

"Dead?" Loki said a bit smug, "rumours of my death have been... well, Eric, you shouldn't listen to rumours," Loki smiled at him with amusement.

"What's this all about?" Eric asked, staring hard at Loki.

"No time to talk right now," Coulson said, making a gesture with his hand for us to keep walking, "we don't want to miss those pancakes," then added, "and Eric, you may want to put some pants on...?"

"Right! See you later," Selvig said, taking one last look at Loki, walking away from us.

"What was that all about?" I asked Loki, once we were far enough down the hall.

"It's a long story, one that... will have to wait for another time," Loki replied, in a doleful tone.

"But..." I couldn't help myself, "he said something about you being dead?"

"Beverlee," he said, "right now, all you need to know is... with you I have never felt more alive."

Emotion overcame me. I stopped pushing the wheelchair for the briefest moment to give him another brief neck hug from behind - then continued on our way.