"Loki, have you seen Lady Y/N ? She is without her powers, but I cannot find her. She is not in her suite or with Lady Natasha..." Thor's booming voice started breaking through the effects of Loki's tea. He really was loud. He was extra loud because he was worried. You could hear it in his tone.

"Yes. I have seen her," Loki said dryly, not bothering to try to move from where he sat on the bed. You were currently cuddled up against him, your arms wrapped tightly around him and you were using him as a pillow. You made a small noise and shifted slightly. Thor must have finally taken in the scene and realized you were there.

"You are taking responsibility for her safety?" Thor asked. His tone indicated that he would take over the duty for Loki if Loki didn't want the responsibility.

Loki scoffed. "She is my kærasta, of course I am taking care of her. Now get out of here before she wakes and you scare her, oaf,"

"Very well," Thor chuckled. "Be wary, she can be a handful,"

"All Asgardian ladies are," Loki's voice held a smirk. Thor left the room, still chuckling.

"Hope she does not decide to take after Lady Sif,"

"I hope for that with every fiber of my being," Loki said softly as the door to his room closed. He stroked your hair gently. "Are you awake yet, witchling?" he asked softly.

"Almost," you murmured. He chuckled.

"No rush. Sorry that Thor is so loud and annoying." You chuckled at that and finally got your eyes to open.

"What the hell is in that tea?" you asked, still groggy as you worked to sit up. Loki laughed and helped you.

"I may have mixed it a little strong last night," he admitted sheepishly. "I was afraid you would never calm. You were scared out of your wits, witchling," he said softly, holding you in his arms.

"Sorry to have worried you," you mumbled, starting to feel uncomfortable now that you were awake. "Thank you for letting me stay last night," you added. You couldn't remember if you had thanked him already or not.

"Witchling, I am glad you chose my company and overjoyed that you came to me for safety and comfort. You don't have to be afraid," he reminded me. "You're safe here, and you're safe with me." You nodded and curled more comfortably in his arms. He let you stay there for a little while before he spoke again. "We should eat something, darling. You have a choice, either I can go get us something-"

"No!" you protested, holding him tighter. He chuckled.

"Or you can come with me and we can go get food together-"

"No!" you protested again, curling up tighter in a scared ball. This was the safe room.

He sighed, the sound filled with loving exasperation. "Darling, I know you are not feeling well and scared, but do try to keep up. You must eat something more substantial than chocolate cake. There are two choices: either I can go get you something or you can come with me. You are perfectly safe either way," he added that last part when you didn't let go of him.

"I don't want to be alone," you finally told him softly. He kissed the top of your head.

"Then come downstairs with me," he bid you gently. "They are not going to hurt you, and I am sure your family would appreciate knowing the real story of what is going on,"

You hesitated, fighting against the fear that you knew was illogical. You finally nodded. "Ok," you managed to get the word out. Loki somehow extricated himself from your grip and got out of the bed. You followed him, but went to his closet to dig for something to go over your pajamas.

"What are you looking for?" he asked as you rummaged through his clothes.

"Your robe," you commented, still shoving clothes aside in his closet. He went to his bathroom, grabbed the robe from the back of the door and handed it to you. You wrapped it around yourself, feeling better with another layer of clothes. Fear wasn't logical sometimes. You had been perfectly decently dressed before the robe, a t-shirt style pajama top and long pajama pants. It just felt safer somehow to be wrapped in Loki's too big robe, surrounded by the safety of something that smelled like him. A dagger the length of your forearm appeared in a sheath in his hand.

"Kindly do not stab me with this," he bid you as he handed it to you. There was no logical reason for you to go around your own home armed, but you strapped the sheath on under Loki's robe and felt better, safer to be armed. "You do have some of the same instincts as Lady Sif," he commented mournfully.

"I won't stab you," you promised him. You were feeling a bit better, a bit safer, but still wrapped your arms around one of his, holding him too tightly before you'd agree to leave the room. He made no comment on your behavior. You thought he might've just been glad you hadn't stabbed him.

The entire group looked shocked to see you when you got off the elevator downstairs. You hid behind Loki, only peering out from behind him at the others. "So, Kid, is Reindeer Games going to turn into a werewolf next month too?" Tony joked from where he was sitting on one of the couches with Pepper.

"He's immune," you quipped, but quietly, shy and more afraid than you wanted to admit.

"Be nice," Pepper scolded Tony.

Loki herded you onto a couch, somehow managing to settle you under a throw blanket next to Thor. He kissed your forehead. "I will fix you something to eat. Stay. Visit your family. Thor will keep you perfectly safe, or he will have to face my wrath,"

"He is mean when he is angry and creative in his retaliation," Thor whined, earning him a giggle from you. Loki gave you a real smile that you were able to relax enough to laugh. He left to go cook something.

"Weren't expecting to see you again for a few days," Clint pressed the issue.

You looked away from him, speaking directly to your lap, fiddling with the blanket out of nerves. "I think it's safe to say that none of you believe I'm a werewolf," you commented innocently, earning some laughs and some 'duh's.

"So are you going to tell us what the actual story is?" Tony demanded. He was quickly pelted by pillows and other small, harmless objects for interrupting and pressing you for answers

"Thor and Nat already know," you hedged, but took a breath and pressed on. "My magic is Asgardian. Apparently all the Asgardian women lose their powers a few days every month," you weren't clarifying that point any further. If the guys couldn't figure it out that was their fault.

Loki came back then with two bowls of some creation that had eggs, cheese, sausage, potatoes, and sausage gravy. He handed one to you and settled himself next to you. You cuddled up next to him while you ate the breakfast he had made, which was delicious.

"So her behavior is normal?" Cap asked Thor and Loki a little skeptically. A whole race of defensive scared females was unlikely.

"Fairly, especially considering that she did not know about this until last night. Most of the ladies will simply choose a companion whom they feel safe around while they are feeling vulnerable," Loki actually volunteered the answer, which was strange for him. He was usually reserved around the group.

"Which is why you did better last month," Nat added kindly. You had stuck to her like a shadow for days last month. You nodded, but focused most of your attention on breakfast, and not on your family discussing your weird behavior.

The conversation changed quickly and you enjoyed the comfortable morning surrounded by family, even if you kept reaching for Loki's dagger every time someone moved too quickly. "Brother, why did you arm Lady Y/N?" Thor asked when you had reached for the dagger one too many times.

"I wanted my lady to feel safe," Loki replied innocently.

"So you needed to give her a dagger that might as well be a sword?" Tony growled. He had caught sight of the dagger too.

"I should have given her a bigger one?" Loki asked even more innocently. With a flash of green magic an even larger dagger appeared on his hand.

"NO!" the group shouted at him. You just laughed.

"Can't you two try to behave?" Clint grumbled, looking like he was getting over a heart attack. It was probably fear of being stabbed by that wicked looking dagger that Loki held. Loki vanished the dagger.

"But behaving is no fun and so boring," he whined. Thor whirled on Loki then. Loki being bored was a bad thing. He apparently did stupid things for attention when he was bored.

"Brother! The Man of Iron has introduced me to a new entertainment! You should try it with me!" Thor boomed excitedly. He was obviously waiting for the next time Loki mentioned being bored to pull out whatever new thing he had learned about.

"What is it this time?" Loki asked, sounding bored by Thor's enthusiasm, as well as doubtful that it would actually be entertaining.

"It is called Mario Kart!" Thor boomed. "Tony, get us the Mario Kart!" Tony rolled his eyes, but he and Clint got up to get the controllers to pass out to everyone and Jarvis set up the TV.

"Bruce, are you playing this time?" Nat asked a little worriedly. You weren't sure why. Mario Kart was fun. You explained the controls to Loki while Clint finished passing out the controllers. Even Bruce decided to play, for a little bit anyway.

Jarvis got the game set up so you could all play at the same time. Loki learned quickly that there are no friends in Mario Kart. He learned especially quickly when you had hit him with shells twice. He growled at the screen and leaned forward in intense concentration, determined to win. Nat calmly killed Tony with a blue shell which made him start yelling at her across the room.

Everything was going well until rainbow road.

"I. Hate. Rainbow. Road." Bruce growled in a dangerous tone.

"Dr. Banner?" Cap asked worriedly. Bruce was looking green around the edges. His eyes had even changed to that bright almost neon green color.

"Jarvis," Tony snapped at the computer. The game paused.

Before anyone could stop you, you made the stupid decision of getting off of the nice safe couch and going to Bruce with the calm gentle expression you had perfected just for him. Loki jumped up off the couch and grabbed you around the waist, pulling you to him and forcibly away from Bruce. He grumbled about healers with no sense of self-preservation, who go to heal people even when they have no healing magic to do so, even when they are terrified of everyone in the room due to said lack of magic. Thor jumped up too, standing between Bruce and the two of you. "Get her out of here," Thor ordered Loki.

"No. It's ok," Bruce said, fighting back for control, but he was winning. "The Big Guy likes her and isn't stupid enough to hurt the healer,"

"I think that's enough Mario Kart. Even Loki can't be bored now," Clint commented and quickly gathered up all of the controllers again. Tony got Bruce out of the room claiming to need help with something in the lab. It was a feeble excuse, but Bruce took it anyway.

"Witchling, you are too brave for your own good sometimes," Loki scolded gently as you resettled on the couch.

"I don't feel very brave," you replied cuddling up with him to watch whatever movie Nat was picking.

"You just tried to take on the Hulk with no magic," he replied grumpily. You could hear the hint of fear in his voice, though he was trying to hide it. He still didn't like the Hulk after he'd gotten repeatedly smashed into the floor during the whole New York incident. He had been legitimately scared for your safety.

"He was hurting," you protested. It was hard to be afraid for yourself when one of your family needed help.

"Healers," Loki sighed, exasperated. "No sense of self preservation when someone else is hurting," he grumbled again. "Can you try to avoid sabotaging my job of keeping you safe?"

Thor just laughed and laughed and couldn't stop for a good five minutes. "Now you know how it feels trying to keep you out of trouble, brother," he roared in laughter while Loki grumbled that even he wasn't that bad. He at least had self preservation if nothing else.

You laughed with them, accepting the comfort of being around family.