Loki was annoyed when he found out that Thor was planning on staying at Gibbs' house. He knew his brother was going to tease him about that whole thing with Bishop, he could see it in his expression.

The god of thunder looked miffed when Loki beat him to the front seat, but obligingly climbed into the back as Gibbs started up the engine.

Gibbs didn't say anything for the entire ride home, which Loki wasn't sure whether to interpret that as good or not. With DiNozzo's reminder about Rule 12, Loki didn't know if Gibbs was going to chew him out for the whole lost kiss scenario. But Gibbs didn't say anything, and neither did Thor, though when Loki glanced back at his brother and noticed the smirk on his face, he knew Thor was certainly planning on it.

The two Asgardians pitched in helping Gibbs prepare dinner and clean up from it, Gibbs disappearing into the basement as soon as the last dish was wiped clean with orders for the two of them not to follow him. With a pit in his stomach, Loki walked out into the living room and sank down onto the L-shaped couch, Thor sitting on the longer branch.

There was silence before Thor stood up and began fiddling with the television set, flicking the screen on and settling back with the remote.

"What are you doing?" Loki asked, furrowing his brow.

"Turning on the television," Thor said curtly, eyes narrowed as he examined the remote before clicking a button, bringing up a directory of available channels.

"You don't know how to do that," Loki protested, moving forward in his seat.

"Stark showed me," Thor answered, flicking through the channels.

There was silence for another moment as Thor ran through all of the channels and began to look through them again. "What are you looking for?" Loki asked.

"I don't know," Thor replied. "Stark hasn't gotten to that part yet."

Loki snorted as Thor turned off the television, tossing the remote onto the coffee table, and turned to look at him. Loki tensed, knowing the teasing was about to start.

"So," Thor said, eyes sparkling with humor. "DiNozzo tells me you and Bishop are getting along quite nicely now."

"We are not," Loki retorted. "I told you, she hates me."

"That's not what DiNozzo says," Thor responded, not to be swayed. "He gave me quite a lot of details about the two of you."

"There's nothing to tell," Loki insisted, crossing his arms. "I assure you."

"DiNozzo says otherwise," Thor said. "He tells me you and Bishop disappeared up onto the roof while in the middle of an investigation."

"We were investigating the roof," Loki said.

"I was shown the footage," Thor shot back. "It didn't look very much like investigating. Oh, and then there was the time she gave you that hug, in the squad room."

"I had been in danger of dying," Loki retorted. "Just because she hates me doesn't mean she wants me dead."

"Is that so?" Thor inquired, still grinning. "DiNozzo said you got very upset with him when he began to chant...oh, what did he say the words were....Oh, I remember them now." The god of thunder took a deep breath and launched into that very annoying chant. "Loki and Bishop, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in the baby carriage."

Loki glowered at Thor as his brother laughed until he was out of breath. When he noticed Loki's glare, he threw up his hands. "Oh, come on, Loki. Admit it. You love Eleanor Bishop."

"I don't have to admit anything," Loki said stiffly. "Because none of it is true."

"So how can you be angry with Agent Bishop when she falsely claims to hate you when you swear you're not in love with her?" Thor demanded. "The both of you clearly are attracted to the other, but neither of you wants to admit it!"

"What makes you say that?" Loki persevered. "What proof do you have?"

Thor rolled his eyes. "Brother, open your eyes! Everyone at NCIS and in the Avengers knows that the two of you are in love! Trust me, Loki, and just admit it. You are in love with that girl. Why can't you just say it? We all know you two would have kissed if Gibbs had not interrupted you. What is so wrong about just allowing yourself to love her?"

Loki stood and turned away from Thor as his brother continued, "What are you so afraid of?"

He froze. "I'm not afraid," he snapped, nevertheless. "I'm never afraid."

Thor got up and walked over to Loki's side. "DiNozzo offered a comparison of your situation to the one found in Ocean's Eleven that may encourage you."

Loki furrowed his brow as Thor continued, "He pointed out that like Danny Ocean, you have to convince Tess that what you did is not who you are. That you are better than that now. You're Ocean, and Bishop is Tess, and according to DiNozzo, Ocean was able to convince her to love him again. Although what you did is way worse than anything Ocean ever attempted to do. Apparently, he just robbed casinos while you...well, you are kind of homicidal."

Loki gave Thor a very perplexed look. Thor just nodded wearily.

"I know, I know: I gave DiNozzo that exact same look. All he said was, 'Hey, I may not be Hitch, but I'm trying.'" When Loki continued giving him the strange look, he admitted, "I didn't understand that part, either."

"That didn't help, Thor." In fact, it might have made things worse.

Thor sighed. "I didn't think it would. I had hoped you knew more about mortal entertainment and would understand the reference."

Loki just shook his head. "Just let it go, Thor. Leave it alone. I'm warning you."

Thor snorted. "I'm still bigger than you. You can't do anything to make me regret what I said."

"Oh, really?" Loki shot back, turning to face his brother with a scowl. "Do we want to put that to the test?"

Thor grinned. "DiNozzo also said that your defensiveness is clearly a sign that you like her."

Loki glared at Thor, curling his fingers into fists. But just as he brought his hands up, Gibbs' living room disappeared from around him and he was standing on the terrace of Stark Towers.

"Look at this!" Thor yelled. "Look around you!"

Loki turned his head to see the fire and destruction laced throughout New York City. As he gasped for breath, he saw for the first time exactly what he was doing. What he had done. And he was afraid.

He was afraid.

"Do you think this madness will end with your rule?" Thor demanded as Loki turned his gaze to his brother.

"It's too late," Loki panted, feeling for the first time the horror he had brought upon Midgard, the despair the Avengers must have been feeling as they sought to stop him. He looked back out over Manhattan. "It's too late to stop it."

"No," Thor insisted, seeing the spark of good still inside his brother, noticing the reality dawning upon him. "We can. Together."

Loki saw the earnestness in Thor's eyes, the sudden bit of joy at seeing that his little brother wasn't completely gone. For one moment, Loki seized on the thought of listening to Thor, but the remembrance of Thanos' warning was enough to draw him back into his resolve to rule Midgard. He couldn't fail the Titan. Too much was at stake. He felt himself smiling and knew that he couldn't go back. He was in too deep.

Thor gasped and fell back as Loki stabbed him in the side. "Sentiment," he muttered as Thor dropped Mjolnir.

"Loki!" Thor yelled, jerking the god back into modern day. His brother was grasping his arms and shaking him. "Loki, what's wrong?"

Loki, still caught up in that past moment, yanked himself away from Thor, falling to the floor. As Thor reached down to pull him up, he rolled away, feeling stuck between the past and the present. All he remembered was Thor smashing him into the floor of Stark Tower, and he reacted as if that was what Thor was planning on doing.

Thor stopped, eyebrows drawn down in utter confusion. "Loki, what is wrong with you?"

Loki looked up at him, back in the present now, and felt the same fear that he had felt back on the terrace, during the fight. "A lot more than whatever was wrong with Danny Ocean."

****

Loki sat on the couch, his head buried in his hands. Thor had headed to the basement to inform Gibbs about Loki's latest flashback.

He had almost started to believe that they were gone, or that at least, they would no longer force him into doing anything the way he had been jolting into attacking DiNozzo over the "puny" comment. But it was the fact that it had taken him quite a while to reassure himself that he was back in the present day, no longer in the battle for New York, that told him he was getting worse.

"Loki?"

Loki looked up to see Gibbs walking quickly into the room, sitting down on the couch beside him, eyeing him with concern. He hadn't even heard him come in. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

"Flashback," Loki answered dully. "Except this time, I...I couldn't snap out of it. It was like I was stuck there."

"Dr. Strange is scheduled to be in D.C. tomorrow," Gibbs told him, but there was something in his eyes that told Loki it might take more than the neurosurgeon to correct this problem. "He'll help you. We'll get this fixed."

"What if he can't fix it?" Loki asked, voicing a fear he had refused to think about until this moment. "What if I am permanently damaged?" He looked across at Gibbs in despair. "I'm not Danny Ocean, Gibbs. I've done a lot worse than what he did. It's going to take more...." He trailed off.

It's going to take more to make this right, to make Bishop love me.

Gibbs wrinkled his brow. "Who?"

"So it's not just us!" Thor declared, almost triumphantly.

****

Loki didn't even care when Thor beat him to the shotgun seat for the ride into work the next day. He sat in the back and tried to think about anything other than last night, but he couldn't. Every subject he seized on, from the secret behind the mortals' energizing coffee to the scepter, just ended up with him cycling back to relive the events of last night. Thor's teasing, the flashback, Loki's inability to realize that he was no longer in the thick of the fighting, even though he could clearly see Gibbs' living room around him. It made him tense and worried. He didn't want his flashbacks, his past, to hurt his newfound family.

They were the first three to arrive at the Navy Yard, and had only just settled down into their desks to work, Thor taking DiNozzo's space, when Vance called out to them from the second floor.

"Agent Gibbs," he said. "Dr. Stephen Strange has arrived. He's waiting, quite impatiently, I may add, in the conference room."

/**/

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed Thor teasing Loki - I know I did. And who is ready for Dr. Strange to step into the case? 

Skylar Wittenborn