Loki stood the moment you appeared back in the throne room. His expression had already been worried, anxious for your return, concern for his brother and your friends. He hadn't truly expected that you would be hurt. It was a possibility, it always was, but the team circled around the healer, they kept you safe since you could heal any of them in an instant, but couldn't heal yourself. Not that you needed their protections most of the time either, you were a perfectly capable fighter.

This time however.

This battle had really sucked.

Hell, Thor had nearly died.

Loki's face blanched when he saw the shields on your side, recognizing your emergency shield bandages for what they were, when he saw the blood, the gaping would in your side. The rest of the gathered Asgardians were just as shocked and horrified that their princess had been injured on a mission for the crown.

There was still duty to take care of.

Duty came first. As a princess of Asgard addressing her king, duty had to come first. So you stood tall, ignoring the wound in your side as any warrior did when giving their report. "Your brother is safe, my king," you told him clearly and heard the sighs of relief from the crowd.

With that one statement your mission was complete.

Loki threw off his shock and dropped the staff, running to your side. He caught you before your legs could collapse from under you and lowered you to the floor gently, kneeling beside you. He looked up and growled at the guards. "Get the healers here this instant," he paused for a moment, fighting the necessity of the order, but swallowed his emotions to add more carefully, more controlled. "Please ask my mother to come as well." He didn't want to interrupt Frigga's vigil, but he would for this. The guards ran off to do what they were told. Loki cradled you to him. "Stay with me, love," he bid you softly.

"I'm ok," you reassured him. It wasn't that bad since you'd mostly stopped the bleeding with your shields. Yes, it hurt, and yes, you'd like nothing more than to pass out and sleep until it was healed, but you'd be ok.

He glared at you, but softened his expression to loving exasperation. "Darling, kindly do not lie to the god of lies. It hurts my nose," he told you, keeping his voice light and caring, a gentle healer's croon. It made you laugh, but that only concerned him more when you winced at the pain of laughing with an open wound in your side.

You lost track of time, cradled safely in Loki's arms, even as your shields failed. He ripped off his own cape to hold against the wound in your side to staunch the bleeding.

"WHERE ARE THOSE HEALERS!?" he roared, magic and anger sparking around him. Even as king, there was only so much he could do. Though he'd tear the whole palace down stone by stone if that's what it took to save your life.

It only took a moment for the healers to come running into the room, Frigga in the lead of them. She really would leave Odin's bedside for this. You hadn't quite thought she would. Her love for Odin had kept her at his bedside for weeks already, and nothing but giants in the palace had even threatened that vigil. Yet, she had come for you.

Loki laid you down before the steps to the throne, still holding his cape to the wound in your side. Frigga knelt beside you and got to work immediately.

Time went wibbly-wobbly again, either from the healing magic or actually passing out. It was hard to tell.

The next thing you knew, you were in Loki's arms and he was carrying you back to his suite. "Loki?" you asked him softly.

He smiled at you with such relief in his eyes that it nearly broke your heart knowing how worried he'd been. "I'm here, darling, you're alright now," he told you his voice gentle and reassuring. "Mother healed that nasty hole in your side. It should be completely healed by morning," he added as he shifted his grip to squeeze you a little, to reassure both of you that you were safe in his arms. "How, pray tell, did you manage to get that hole in your side?"

You sighed overly dramatically. "Clint sucks at covering my back," you whined at him, teasingly, lightly, a reassurance that you were ok enough to joke. He would know and understand. You felt the tension in his shoulders ease.

"Well, I shall be killing him when we return to Midgard," Loki replied dryly. You laughed and he chuckled as well, his concern for you finally easing with your reassurances. "Seriously, darling, what happened on Midgard? It had to be major for you and the oaf to have both been injured," he bid you to tell him. He wasn't all-seeing like Heimdall. He'd been stuck here helplessly for all that he was king, there hadn't been anything he could do to help you or his brother.

"It was an alien invasion. Horrible monsters had made a portal between the realms. They just came pouring through in droves and it took all of our skills to hold them back. Thor was already down when I got there. The sheer number had overwhelmed him. I finally found the portal they were coming through and used magic to close it again, but they were still coming through. The team tried to cover me, since I couldn't defend myself and close the portal at the same time. They really tried, but I took a spear to the side before I got the portal closed," you explained.

"Ah, that's what made that wound,"

"Yeah, the oaf pulled it out so I could slap some shields on it to make it back here," you explained. He kissed your forehead.

"I'm just glad you're alright," he told you warmly and carried you the rest of the way to his suite. He tucked you into his bed and kissed your forehead. "Rest, love. You're safe now. I won't let anything hurt you, not here where I can stop it," his tone started to change from loving, caring to pain, anger, frustration. "I'm so sorry I let you face that fight alone. I should have been there with you. I should have helped you. I shouldn't have been chained here to that damn throne," he growled, frustrated.

You sat up and touched his cheek as he sat down on the bed next to you. "Loki, until the allfather rises from the Odinsleep, you're the king of Asgard," you reminded him patiently. He knew this. He knew the implications. He knew his duty better than you did. "Your duty demanded that you stay here and defend Asgard and her people. It was a hard decision and I know how much it hurt you to stay behind, but you did the right thing, even though I was in danger. Much as we both hate to admit it, there are things that are more important than either of us, and the demands of duty and honor are among them. I'm not a helpless Midgardian mortal. I am a competent warrior, a healer, a Lady of Asgard; yes, I was injured, but that's the inherent danger in our line of work. I saved Thor. We saved our friends and Midgard. Everything worked out,"

"This time! And you were still injured. What good is being king if I can't even keep the love of my life safe?" he demanded with tears in his eyes. You heard the helplessness in his voice, the depth of the worry he hadn't let the people see. You wrapped your arms around him and pulled him to you, his head went to the crook of your neck and he wrapped his arms around your waist.

"I'm here; I'm safe," you reassured him as he fought back tears.

"I was so afraid for you. There was nothing I could do but let you go. It was the only way to save Thor, but I hate that I risked you to do it!" he told you and you felt the tears land on your shoulder, though he was fighting hard not to. You finally appreciated the strain ruling the realm was putting on him. You had the feeling he hadn't appreciated it until he'd had to make that hard decision. The weight of the realm hadn't felt so heavy on his shoulders until duty prevented him from helping two of the only beings in the nine realms he actually cared for.

"I know, love, I know," you told him and rubbed his back, stroked his hair, soothing, calming. "I'm here and I'm safe. Thor is alive and well on Midgard. I know it was hard. Hard isn't a strong enough word for how much it must have unbelievably sucked to be in that situation. Things in life that are worth doing are rarely easy. It was the right decision and in this instance, you can be sure it was because of how hard the choice was to make,"

"I nearly lost you," he whimpered softly, fear and pain in his voice.

"No, love. I wasn't in that much danger. You didn't send me on a suicide mission. I went to help our team and you didn't stop me because it was the right thing to do. We would have lost Thor if I hadn't gone. I had backup, including your oaf of a brother as soon as he was healed. Thor would have died without a healer, and I'm the strongest healer in Midgard, and barring your mother, the strongest one here. I could help protect myself and had we not needed my power to close the portal, it would have been a routine mission. We go on them all the time. I know you feel bad that I was hurt because you couldn't go yourself, but you said it yourself: I'll be fine by morning. Everything worked out, love. I'm here, I'm safe, Thor's safe," you told him firmly. He shifted, sitting up enough that he could pull you to him and kiss you.

"I love you," he told you firmly, with almost a hint of desperation to his tone.

"I love you too, my king," you replied with a warm reassuring smile.

He kisses you again. "My queen," he said softly, and finally relaxed again. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

"You've been my best friend since we met and loved me nearly as long," you replied warmly and pulled him back to you, laying back in the bed with his head on your shoulder, his arms wrapped gently around you. You stroked his hair until you both relaxed enough to get some sleep.