There wasn't any warning, really. Toni was stalking off after catching Loki's…"embrace" with his brother , and Loki was in hot pursuit. The billionaire took several shortcuts to attempt to lose him, and that landed her in the rougher part of Manhattan. Her blinders were on, tunnel-vision blocking her sense of judgment. She didn't even see the man who had been following both of them come from another way and shoot her, stealing her arc reactor and running before anyone had a chance to stop him.

"No!" she heard the god call from behind her as she fell to the concrete with a sickening thud.

She gasped for air, her head arching back to see the rush of green and black at her. "L-Loki…"

"Save it, Stark. I'm getting you to the Tower."

Her mind was swimming, black orbs appearing in her field of vision. She glanced down at her hand, which had been clutching her stomach. It was dark red as blood gushed from the shot wound. "Fuck, that's bad. Loki…" She struggled to find her words, the urge to sleep overpowering any other train of thought in her mind. "I'm sorry. I-I lo…" There was no way to finish. All she wanted was sleep.

"No! Toni, don't you dare close your eyes. Stay with me! Stay-"

…

"Stark! Stark! Dammit, wake up!"

The billionaire groaned at the familiar voice. "Go away, Loki. I wanna sleep."

The next plea was choked out, almost a desperate cry. "Come on! You need to stay awake!"

Her chocolate eyes fluttered open, meeting those jungle green ones she had come to love. They were tear stained and fearful, something she wasn't used to. "Loki? What's wrong?"

His mouth twisted in a snarl before he let out an anguished cry. "Toni! Oh, dear Allfather! What am I supposed to do?" A chilled hand reached for hers, which she raised involuntarily only to realize it was stained red from the blood. "If I use my magic, I risk harming you more. If I don't…" His voice trailed off then, the next words barely an octave above a whisper. "I could lose you forever. I can't bear that."

"Lose me forever? Loki, I'm…" Her speech halted as she glanced down to her body. The arc reactor was missing, its empty cavity obvious. She was gushing blood as well, but yet she felt no pain. How the hell did that work? Instantly, the sickening revelation came to the genius in a crash, like a car into a barrier. "Oh, my God. I'm dead."

"Not dead. You're in limbo," another familiar voice said.

She climbed out of her body and stood beside her body and her lover, glancing around for the voice she heard. A copy of herself manifested beside her, smiling at her. "And there's two of me because…?"

The copy shrugged. "I'm a coping mechanism and your subconscious. If it helps, I'll allow you to call me our full name. It doesn't really bother you that much."

"Wow. You're already starting to annoy me."

Natasha shrugged. "It's my job. Now, what seems to be the trouble here?"

A dark brow raised as Toni pointed to her seemingly lifeless body in front of them. "The fact I'm in, what was it…limbo? What the hell is that?"

"You're dying. There's no doubt about that. However, you're still alive. Think of it as a coma, sort of. Judging by the missing chest piece and the shot wound? You don't have that much time left."

Toni swallowed hard. "And we're 15 minutes or more away from the Tower."

"So you think."

Her head whipped around, glaring at her copy. "So I know! There's no way Loki can get me the help I need before-"

"Guess again, genius." Chocolate eyes met hers with a sly grin. "Did you honestly expect Loki to give up ALL of his magic?"

Toni's attention turned back to the tear-stained god. His jungle eyes were shut tightly, his lips shaking but moving rapidly in a tongue she wasn't familiar with. Was that Celtic? "He's going to teleport us-" She was cut off by a sudden rumbling. It was a gush of air and white noise as they traveled through time and space to get to the new location of Loki's choosing.

Which just so happened to be the Tower.

"Machine! I need help!" Loki cried out.

Jarvis brought up several medical screens as Dum-E grabbed a bunch of wires. Steve and Bruce managed to make it to the lab in no time flat. Toni knew there was some advantage to having them stay in the Tower.

"Jesus, Loki, what happened?" Bruce asked, grabbing the wires from Dum-E and looking over Toni.

"I-I don't know. She saw me in the park and ran off, and when I caught up to her, someone jumped out and shot her and stole her reactor!"

Bruce pushed his glasses up his nose, his eyes flicking to Steve. "Cap, I need another arc reactor first and foremost. If I can't get her heart going, trying to stop the bleeding will be completely pointless.

The blonde nodded. "Where is there an extra one?"

"Get one of the ones from her suits. For a genius, I'll never figure out why she'd be so stupid as to leave them in there."

"Hey!" Toni cried out, folding her arms over her chest. "It's called aesthetics, Banner."

Steve ripped the Mach VII unit apart, causing Toni to cringe. That was a mess she was going to have to fix later. Finally, he rushed back to Bruce with the newest arc reactor in his grasp. "Will this work?"

Bruce didn't answer as his hand grabbed the chest piece, opening Toni's shirt to plunge it into the cavity. Her body responded with a small jolt, and Jarvis's screen showed a rapid heart rate.

"Arc reactor is accepted, Dr. Banner," the AI answered.

"Guess it does. Okay. Look her over for any other signs of trauma or injuries. I'm going to get to work on this shot wound."

Loki bit his lip, those eyes trained on Toni's body. "What can I do to help?"

"You got her here. That's help enough," Steve clipped.

Bruce gave him a warning look before nodding towards the god. "Can you get me the first aid kit in the back there? It has the big red plus on it."

The Asgardian didn't waste any time as she rushed to the back. In a glass case framed in red was what Bruce needed, and Loki smashed the glass to get it, pacing over to him. "Here you go, Banner."

"Thank you."

Steve held her head. "Looks like she has a cut on the back of her head as well, but it's not that bad. Loki, we need ice water. Can you manage that?"

Using his magic once again, the god made a bowl of water appear out of thin air. His hand changed a dark blue under the bowl, the water instantly cooling. With a sneer, he handed the bowl to Steve. "Icy enough for you, super soldier?"

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Less bickering, children. We need to focus on Toni," he started, turning towards Loki, "Especially if you want her to make it through this."

Steve snorted. "Of course he doesn't. This is probably his fault in the first place."

The growl from Loki's throat was frightening enough to make Toni shudder. "I will split you right down the middle with your own shield, Captain. It would be too simple. You know not of how these events transpired, so it'd be appreciated if you kept your trap shut."

"Why the hell should I? She went chasing after you and then comes back with a missing heart and bullets in her abdomen. How can I be sure this wasn't your work?"

"Because I'm in love with her!"

Such a declaration was enough to cause the room to still, even Bruce…until he remembered his task at hand and continued working. Steve and Toni both looked at Loki, mouths agape. Loki rolled his eyes, rotating on his heel away from the scene.

"I came home from an outing today to find her relieving herself with her machine. It sparked an emotion inside of me, something dangerous and turbulent. You Midgardians call it envy, I believe? It wounded me, so I left to take a walk, gathering my thoughts. The big oaf that always overshadowed me met me in the park and we conversed. One thing led to another and…" Loki swallowed hard before continuing. "He kissed me. I will admit, there was a time such a motion would be acceptable, encouraged. I found it revolting then. It wasn't her, and that was the problem. But it was she who saw it, and she ran off like I had previously. I followed suit to explain, but she outran me and took shortcuts. I didn't see the perpetrator, but I heard the shots and I watched her fall."

"Loki…"

He sneered once more at Steve, who drew back in shame. "You see, Rogers, I didn't know what to do. I've given up my immortality for her, did you know that? I don't use my magic anymore because it was killing her. Today, I changed that rule. I didn't see how I had much of a choice. I wasn't going to let her die. Not there. I probably risked her life more by using my magic, but at least I got her here."

Toni shook her head in disbelief. "I didn't…has it really gotten to that point of the l-word being thrown out there?"

Natasha smirked. "Yes, actually, it has. Why are you acting like you're so shocked? You're in love with him, too."

"Yeah, but my pride would never allow me to admit it."

"No, your damn stubbornness won't allow you to admit it."

She ducked her head in embarrassment. "What the hell would you know?"

"Basically everything there is to about you."

"Shut up."

Bruce leaned back from his work and sighed heavily, wiping the sweat from his brow on the sleeve of his yellow shirt. "Whoever shot her was just after the arc reactor. The shot was meant to be a distraction. There doesn't appear to be any major damage to any major organs, but we'll get an expert in here just to be on the safe side. The gash on the back of her head probably caused a concussion or a small coma, but once again we can get an official diagnosis from the professional." He rested a hand on Loki's shoulder then, offering the god a small smile that never reached his eyes. "I really think she's going to be okay."

Loki nodded, eyes trained to the ground now. "Would I be able to be alone with her a few moments? It's my understanding that she can still hear us, yes?"

Both Steve and Bruce rolled their shoulders. "More than likely," Bruce answered. "I've never been in a coma before, so I couldn't tell you. Steve?"

Blue eyes rolled as he pushed Bruce towards the door. "Very funny, Doc."

Once Loki heard the door shut, he looked up at the brunette laying on the silver table, her chest and stomach red from the blood and exposed other than her black (and now red) bra. He huffed at the sight, shaking his head softly before pulling up her work stool and sitting at her side. "I should've known that even in limbo you'd be as stubborn as ever."

"Hey now," Toni started, "You have your moments, too."

His thumb rubbed over her left hand, specifically her knuckles. "I have a feeling your friends didn't believe some of my little rant back there, but it's all true. There was a time where Thor was, in my view, a suitable suitor for me. Then things got in the way, and I met you. You haunted my thoughts, dreams, fantasies…I couldn't get enough of you. That's why I attended your ball uninvited, why I bestowed to you that rose. It was a way to ease the haunting, by getting close to you and perhaps causing you to be haunted as well. Now…" There was a long pause then, the god's shoulders shaking before he hung his head. "You're haunting my thoughts again and that frightens me."

Toni tilted her head to the side and watched him carefully. That last part was a whisper. Was he crying again?

"Banner says you'll be alright, but with thoughts like these, it frightens me. I can't lose you, Toni. I even gave up my immortality to prove that…most of it anyway. The only reason I kept some of it was in case such circumstances such as those of today did actually transpire. It's enough to help you, and that's it. You're all I have, Stark. Thor is of Asgard and after today, he won't be around as much as per his own choosing. I have no real home to go back to anyway. My home is with you."

"Fuck," Toni breathed, clutching her chest.

"Those are called feelings," Natasha teased.

Toni glared at her copy. "Don't you have to go help turn puppets into human beings or something?"

"That's your conscience. I'm your subconscious. There's a difference."

Toni simply growled but said nothing as her focus shifted to the man sitting by her bedside. He had a small box in his lap his gaze was transfixed on as he fiddled with it. It looked like something from a jewelry store? "Oh, God."

Loki opened the small box and pulled out a golden ring. The front of the band was encrusted with alternating emeralds and black diamonds. The largest gem was the red ruby circle in the center. He admired the ring for a moment or two before holding her left hand.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Toni freaked.

"What's it look like? You're the brainiac."

Her fingers raked through her long brown locks as she watched him slide the ring on her finger, study it a few moments, then slip it off and return it to the box, probably for a proper proposal. "Marriage? I can't get married!"

"And why the hell not? You're in your 40s, Toni. Come on. You can't be the female Hugh Hefner. Hate to break it to you."

The CEO's head just shook. "I just…what if I screw it up again like I did with Victor? I can't lose Loki. The very notion of being without him drives me up a wall. I've cut back my drinking for that fact. Hell, I no longer sleep around because of him. This is just a very big step that I'm frightened to take."

"He made compromises for you. Don't you think it's time you made some for him, even though it won't be much of a compromise considering you want it too?"

"Seriously, Gepeto needs your help or something," Toni snarled.

Natasha simply chuckled before she began fading in and out. "Looks like someone is beginning to wake up."

Toni observed her ghostly body as it too began to fade. The pain was beginning to settle in too. Fuck, it hurt. Burned actually, with an amazing intensity. God, was I shot with bullets or a damn flamethrower?

She moaned, rolling her head back and forth. Ow. Fuck! That hurt, too! No wonder she was knocked out cold.

"Toni?" Loki asked hopefully, squeezing her hand.

"I-I'm here. I'm awake," she whispered, keeping her eyes shut. "I'm in pain, but I'm awake."

She could hear the wind rush out of his lungs in a sigh of relief. "Thank Odin, you're awake. I was beginning to grow…concerned."

There was a soft chuckle from the metal table. "Bullshit. You were frightened."

She expected him to lie or tease her, but instead, he straight up admitted it. "I was."

"Listen. I'm sorry about everything today. I couldn't help myself while you were out, and then I acted like a diva at the park, and-"

Effectively, she was silenced with his lips before he spoke. "You need to shut up once in a while, Stark," he teased. "They're getting you a professional in here, okay? He's going to give you a look and make sure Banner did a thorough check. Then you'll be right as rain."

"Mmm," she hummed, running her fingers over his cheek. "I'm surprised you don't refer to him as 'the monster' anymore. I'm happy, don't get me wrong, just surprised."

"I'm in no position to call anyone a monster, especially not someone so eager to help others." He shook his head then, his black tendrils bouncing before his lips met her forehead. "You, my love, need to rest."

"Make up my damn mind," she hissed. "You either want me awake or want me to sleep. Which is it?"

He smirked half-heartedly. "I want you to relax. You'll be nodding in and out from the concussion I'm sure you've acquired. As long as Jarvis keeps track of your heartbeat, I'll be fine."

"You didn't call him 'Machine.' I'm so proud of you," she jested.

He rolled those jungle eyes that she adored before squeezing her hand. "Shut up and relax, Stark."

"Fine, fine." Her head rolled, aching again before she found a comfortable position. "Loki?"

"Yes?"

A small smile crept onto her face as she shut her eyes. "I love you."

His breath stilled then. She could hear it, along with his heart growing three times its size. "I love you, too, Toni."

She yawned. "Loki?"

"Yes?" he drawled.

"If it means anything," she whispered, now on the precipice of an actual sleep. "You haunted me too."