A/N: Guys, I'm actually chuckling out loud at you all. You never cease to blow my mind. The first chapter's gonna go viral, I swear—you're all blowing up my mailbox. I've gotten over 200 emails about reviews, alerts, and favorites. It's been awesome. I love seeing all the familiar names pop up—you guys are the best. I'm really happy you're all enjoying it—it's really fun to write for this time period in their lives. Love you all.

Bruce and I walked into the new HQ of SHIELD, just on the edge of Manhattan Island. It was a huge facility, hidden behind rolling hills and nestled just on the water. The building was bustling, people running around like madmen. Bruce and I shoved through the sea of agents to the main conference room, where we found the rest of the team already assembled around a long glass table. Steve stood up as I ran in, out of breath, and gave me a hug, squeezing me a little harder than he regularly would. "What's happened?" I asked, looking around the room as he let go of me. Everyone's faces were masked in confusion until Director Fury walked in, closely flanked by Thor.

"What's Bob the Builder doing back?" Tony asked, breaking the tension in the room. Despite my shock, I looked at him, shaking my head.

"Bob the Builder? Really?"

He narrowed his eyes at me, folding his arms across his chest. "It's been four years, I'm running out of nicknames. Bob the Builder had a hammer. It's close enough."

"Running out of taunts? I thought you were better than this, Tony," I replied, raising my eyebrows.

"That's enough, both of you," Fury demanded, standing at the head of the table, Thor by his side. "We have a problem." He looked over at the Norse god, whose face was drawn tight, his hand rubbing his chin.

"I'd like to say that I'm sorry, before anything else." Thor's deep voice boomed throughout the room as he glanced each of us over. "I've made a horrible mistake—an unforgivable one. I've endangered all of Midgard, but I have every intention of correcting it."

I felt my breath catch in my throat, and I gave Steve's hand a squeeze under the table. "My father, Odin, has been killed," Thor mumbled, his eyes hardened but glued to the floor. "He had been dying for quite some time now, and during his final hours, I had asked my mother if I could be permitted to bring my brother to his bedside, to say a final goodbye to our father."

Thor had always had too much faith in Loki. No matter how often people had tried to convince him of Loki's cruelty, Thor's opinion of him would not budge. He loved Loki unconditionally, and that was his greatest flaw—he couldn't see the evil in Loki because he was blinded by love.

"I have been speaking with Loki nearly everyday since his return to Asgard. He has been kept in a prison cell, but he had convinced me that he would be good again. I believed him—so I brought Loki, unrestrained, to our father. My father began to apologize for the love he had denied Loki during his lifetime, and just before he could pass on peacefully, Loki produced a scepter and murdered him. He created the perfect distraction—my mother, the guards, all of Asgard, myself, we were all too distracted at losing my father that…he got away."

Steve squeezed his eyes shut, breathing in a frustrated sigh. Tony ran his hands over his face, through his hair, as he shook his head. The rest of the team was clearly as irritated and upset as us. The room was extremely tense, but no one said a word.

"There are no words to communicate how apologetic I am," Thor whispered, glancing at us, though no one returned his gaze.

Clint took a deep breath and was the first to speak. "Where is he now?"

"We're not aware," Thor said. "I've had a team in Asgard trying to track him for days now, but nothing has appeared. We believe he's in a realm we are unacquainted with—plotting his next move. I have no doubt he will return to Midgard."

"How are you sure of that?" Bruce asked, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. "He knows we'll be here. We defeated him last time. What makes him think he can do it again?"

"He simply yearns for revenge," Thor replied. "I believe he'll attempt to control Midgard once again, yes, but if it is clear to him that he cannot, he'll settle for merely destroying the Avengers—and everything close to them."

Steve's hand instinctively tightened around mine as he spoke. "So what do we do now?"

Fury stepped forward again, his hands clasped behind his back. "We wait. We attempt to discover Loki's location. Determine what his targets are. Prepare."

I closed my eyes, breathing in through my nose. "Everything had finally settled down. We finally got our own apartment. I'd gotten a normal job. I…I was happy."

"Everything's going to be alright, Beck," Steve said, rubbing circles against the back of my hand. "It'll be over before you know it."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Andrews," Nick Fury said. "But SHIELD will always have to be your top priority."

I nodded, opening my eyes and looking over at Thor. "I don't blame you, you know."

Thor's eyes widened, and I heard Tony scoot back in his chair. "What do you mean, you don't blame him? Thanks to Mr. Optimist over here, the world's in danger again. I have a pregnant wife, a company to run, and now this?"

I turned to Stark, my head fuming. "If you think you're too busy to save the world, and the rest of us aren't, you've got another thing coming for you, buddy."

Tony rolled his eyes, slamming his fists down on the table. "Please. You work for me. You've probably got some paperwork to do and have to cuddle up to your boyfriend. Don't pretend like you're overworked."

My jaw dropped, and I stood up from my chair. Steve's hand was still clasped in mine and he attempted to pull me back down, but I wouldn't budge. "Don't give me that shit, Tony! You're right, I work for you—which means I have to take care of all your shit, while also checking in on SHIELD, and I actually have to run a household—I can't just yell at JARVIS to have someone do the wash, I actually have to do it. Just because you're a big fancy CEO doesn't mean you live a hard life."

"Can we cut this out?" Bruce demanded, calmly but sternly. He moved over beside me, pushing down on my shoulder until I was back in my seat. "We are not going to be able to solve anything if you two keep going at each other like this. You two are friends. Don't let your tempers get in the way and ruin that."

I took a couple breaths to calm myself and looked up at Bruce, who still had his hand on his shoulder. "How are you the master of relaxation? Isn't that ironic?"

Bruce smirked, moving back to the other side of the table to take his seat. "I have to be."

I looked over at Tony, who had his eyes glued to his conjoined hands in front of him. "I'm sorry," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I didn't mean what I said."

Tony looked up at me through his lashes, a surprisingly innocent smirk on his face. "Yeah, you did."

The corner of my mouth twitched up in reply as I rolled my eyes at him. "Maybe a little. But I'm still sorry."

Tony sat back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table and linking his hands behind his head. "Yeah, yeah, enough with the touchy apologies, I don't care. Let's get down to business."

Fury looked around at the table, his eyebrows raised in surprise, though I wasn't sure at what. "You're dismissed, for now. We'll be in touch. First sign of anything suspicious…we'll assemble."

Everyone in the room slowly made their way back out, not even bothering to say anything. It was the first time the entire team had been together in a long time—both Natasha and Clint had been on a variety of minor missions for a year now, but both of them left without saying a single goodbye. Thor had been away in Asgard ever since he had returned with Loki.

Steve was pulling me to the door, put I slipped my hand out of his. "You go, I'll be out in a second," I said, and he looked over at Thor, who was the only other person in the room, and nodded, kissing my forehead.

"Miss Andrews," Thor said, thundering across the room towards me. "Thank you for defending me."

I smiled at him, reaching out to touch his arm. "No need. I understand—he's your brother. It's hard to look past that sometimes. You just want him to be how he used to be so badly, but…"

Thor nodded, solemnly. "Thank you for understanding."

I gave him a grin as I headed toward the door. "You're welcome."

Just as I was about to leave the room, Thor spoke once again. "Miss Andrews…I feel like I should warn you of something."

I turned around, my eyebrows furrowed together. "What's that?"

Thor's eyes narrowed in frustration as he wrung his hands. "My brother, Loki…he asked about you, rather frequently, during his time back in Asgard."

My eyes widened, and I let go of the door handle, turning to face Thor completely. "What do you mean?"

"He questioned me about your healing ability, the extent of it. He was rather…fascinated by it."

A cold shock ran through my body, like ice flowing through my veins. Why did Loki want to know what I was capable of? "What have you told him?"

Thor looked up at me, guiltily. "Everything I am aware of. You heal others by the touch of your hand. You can heal yourself. However, I did also tell him…I told him how you couldn't touch the Tesseract's energy."

I looked around the room, trying to stay calm. Everything would be ok. "It's all right, Thor," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "But thank you for telling me." I walked out of the room, not waiting for the god's reaction, and found Steve waiting for me in the lobby.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, worry lacing his voice. My face must have betrayed me and I looked everywhere but his eyes. "Becky? Becky, what is it?"

"It's nothing, Steve," I said, grabbing his hand and heading for the front door. "Just…worried. About the whole situation. It's nothing."

"Becky, stop," Steve said, pulling me to a stop outside. I could hear the waves hitting the rocks off the cliff, a couple birds chirping nearby—sounds that would usually calm me. But not now. "Becky, everything's going to be ok. I won't let anything happen to you. You know that. This will all be over soon enough, and you and I can go back to our normal lives."

I could feel my hands shaking as I looked over at the water, nodding my head. "How do you know that?"

Steve placed his free hand against my cheek, pulling my face to look at him. "It did last time. Everything turned out ok. You and I, when we're together, we can do anything. When we're together, we can beat anything. Everything will be ok."

I looked up at him and saw the sincerity in his eyes, and almost told him what Thor had told me. It was on the tip of my tongue as he leaned forward to kiss my forehead. His lips stayed there for a second longer than usual, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Though he'd never let it on, I knew Steve was worried. He was always the type to worry—even when I'd go to get a test done by Dr. Banner, he'd always hold me a little too close, kiss me a little too passionately. If I told Steve that Loki had been asking about me…he wouldn't let me come with him. Wherever this war took us, he would keep me locked up, protected—and I couldn't do that. I had to help them—they needed me. So Steve couldn't know. Not just yet.

"I love you," Steve whispered, his face stern, like he was scolding me. I forced a small reassuring smile and met his gaze.

"I know." No. I definitely couldn't tell him just yet.

A/N: Still loving writing this story. Not gonna lie, I was starting to get bored at the end of The Right Partner, just because it was a lot of fluff. I love getting to write all these different characters. It's a complete blast. I hope you're all still enjoying it. Love you all.