A/N: So there is a bit of a time jump in the middle of the chapter but there is a "break" and then the time shift is mentioned. I wanted to get to a point where Loki trusts Leigh a bit more without having to spend a tonne of chapters, there will be flashbacks and soon, very soon, we will discover the identity of at least one of Loki's torturers.


The touch of her warm skin under his cold hand was such a welcome relief but also a huge confusion. No woman had ever let him touch her, at least not more than was necessary. It embarrassed the God of Mischief to have to admit that he was still largely unskilled when it came to women. His supposed "Silver-Tongue" worked for so many things, but most women were so opposed to being with a scrawny second-born instead of a larger, strapping hero like this "brother" Thor. When Leigh covered his hand with hers he fought again the urge to shiver; he could see some kind of conflict warring in her beautiful grey eyes and the realization that he thought her eyes beautiful brought him up short. Never had he noticed a female's eyes before but hers seemed to draw him in, hold him captive as she watched him, checking the beeping monitors occasionally.

"Loki?" she whispered, not moving their hands.

"Yes?" he hated how rough his voice sounded.

"Are you hungry?" she watched his face and the naked hunger was almost painful.

"Yes." He sighed as if admitting he needed something was a great burden.

Leigh stood up and their hands slid from her face, but she did not let go of his hand. She held it gently, but firmly as she carefully moved his arm back to his side.

"I'll be back shortly, I promise." she gasped when he tightened the grip he had on her hand.

"No."

"Loki, I can't get you food if I don't leave." She said, reaching up and running her fingers through his raven locks. "I'll be gone no more than ten minutes."

The panic in his eyes killed her; it was obvious he was afraid to be alone but wouldn't admit it.

"Jarvis?" she called out to Stark's AI.

"Yes Miss Harris?" she smiled that Tony had already updated that they were not longer associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. into their designations.

"Is Miss Potts available?" she asked, gently running her fingers along Loki's hairline as he calmed.

"Yes Miss Harris."

"Could you ask her to meet me in the medical suite please?"

"Certainly." There was a slight pause, "She is on her way."

"Thank you Jarvis." She smiled down at Loki, "Hush sweet Prince, I will not leave you if I can avoid it, you need not be alone, I promise."

Loki's eyes closed and a single tear escaped; he hated himself for such weakness and disliked himself even more that his weakness was so obvious to his caregiver. He heard the door to the suite hiss open but did not open his eyes.

"Did you need something Leigh?" a woman he assumed must be Miss Potts asked.

Leigh turned to face her friend. "I don't feel comfortable leaving him alone after he started seizing last night, since we don't know for sure it was pain that caused the seizure." She smiled at her friend, while keeping Loki's hand in her grasp. "Loki is hungry though, I was wondering if you could find a couple of those ready-made protein shakes that Tony and Steve chug after their workouts?"

"I'm sure I can round a few up." She smiled, "What flavour?"

Leigh looked at Loki and then decided to just pick for him, she didn't want him to strain himself from talking, "Make it an assortment, some chocolate, some vanilla, maybe a couple strawberry."

"Sure. I'll be back soon." Pepper smiled at Leigh and left the room.

Loki felt the bed he was lying on dip slightly by his hip and hissed. "I'm sorry." She whispered, "Pepper is gone now, I'll still be here."

Loki's eyes opened and Leigh gasped again, the gratitude and embarrassment in his eyes made it feel like she'd been punched in the gut. She slowly, gently reached out to cup his cheek.

"You tell me if this hurts." She told him, resting her warm hand on his cool cheek.

The light moan that Loki made was clearly not one of pain and the look in his eyes was one of shock and, dare she think it, lust.

"Leigh." His voice was ragged as he looked at the vixen in front of him.

A stray lock of hair had escaped her ponytail and he tried not to flinch as he saw the strawberry colour of her hair.

"Loki?" she saw his eyes flash with fear as her hair came loose and she quickly bound it back, which made her lose contact with the petrified god. "It's okay, I'm here."

"Red." He said, his eyes locked on her hair.

"Yes." She nodded and then it dawned on her that one of his tormentors may have had red hair; she made a mental note to get Tony to look into how many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had red hair.

Pepper returned with a tray of shakes and set them on the table next to Loki's bed. The god still looked horrible, but he was awake and that was a large improvement.

"Leigh, you got a second?" she asked, watching the way Loki was looking at her friend.

"Sure." Leigh looked at Loki, "I'll be just outside." She motioned to the door, "you'll be able to see me."

Loki nodded and Leigh joined Pepper outside.

"What's up?" she asked Pepper.

"Be careful." Pepper said, eyeing Loki through the door, his eyes hadn't left Leigh.

"Careful of what?" Leigh asked, she was confused.

"Psychologists call it transference."

"You mean when a patient or client of a health care professional mistakes gratitude for something deeper?" Leigh asked, "Yeah, I learned about it in school. I'll be careful, but right now he is scared and hurting and I am the only one in this building who knows what he's going through. If he needs me right now, I'll be there for him." She sighed, "it will also help me earn his trust to find out who did this to him and maybe open up about what actually happened." She looked back at the man on the bed, "Plus, the more he trusts me, the easier he'll let me examine him to keep an eye on how he's healing."

Pepper nodded, glad her friend had thought things through and was being careful. "Alright, just wanted to make sure you were aware of everything." She smiled, "Anything else you need?"

"He'll probably want another pair of pants soon." Leigh said, "those jeans can't be comfortable. I'd guess he's a thirty inch waist, probably a thirty-four inseam. Also, can you ask Tony to run a check for all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with red hair?"

"Sure I'll get right on that." Pepper smiled, "for the pants, track pants or pyjama bottoms?"

"Get a pair or two of each if you can, I'm not sure how long he'll be bed ridden, especially with the leg casts." Leigh sighed, "I'd better get back."

~A~A~A~A~A~A~

A few weeks later Leigh was looking over Loki's x-rays and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of healing that was had been done in that time. Most of his ribs were healing well and most of the swelling in his two dislocated joints was gone. She looked over at him, lying on the bed in only a pair of the pyjama pants that Pepper had picked up. Leigh had been right about his sizing and the pj pants fit loosely over his casts.

"Any discomfort today?" she asked, looking up at him.

"No, thank you." He responded, his voice had gotten stronger over the last few weeks.

Leigh was happy to see some patches of his natural skin tone peeking through the masses of bruising on his chest and even on few places on his face. She tapped a few places on the screen and saved the information to Loki's file and then walked towards the god.

"How are your legs feeling?" she asked, rolling up the pant legs.

"Itchy." He glared at her a bit, "When can I remove those blasted contraptions?"

"I told you Loki, the bones could take six to eight weeks to heal and if we remove the casts too soon, the bones could shift and we've have to break them all over again." She watched the anger and then fear flash through his eyes. "I know my Prince," she stroked his hair again, "I know how much this bothers you, but I promise, it will be better in the long run."

"Why do you call me that?" he asked, grabbing her hand and holding it close to his still abused looking chest.

"Call you what?" she asked, trying not to stroke a bare spot on his chest.

"Prince." He said, his eyes heating up, "You use that term as if it still applied to me."

"How do you know it does not?" Leigh responded keeping her eyes locked with his.

"I am not a prince."

"You are to me." she said, giving into the urge to stroke his chest.

She felt him shiver at her touch and couldn't bring herself to stop.

"Does that hurt?" she watched his eyes.

"Not in the way you would imagine." He sighed, his eyes darkening as she made the gentle circles.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No."

"Do you need me to stop?" she noted the strain in his voice.

"Yes."

Leigh stilled her hand but couldn't make herself remove it from his chilled chest. He placed his hand on top of hers.

"I would that I didn't need you to." His voice was deeper than she was used to.

"You need to recover, I understand." She could feel his heart thumping against her palm.

"Your friends worry for you." He whispered, his eyes lowering from hers a moment.

"I know they do." She gently touched the side of his face with her free hand. "But I don't care, this is my life and if I choose to spend my time with you, that's what I'll do."

"But I am broken." The fact that Loki would even admit that showed Leigh exactly how broken he was, but also how much he trusted her.

"We can fix you." She said, moving her hand from his cheek to his thigh.

"Who fixed you?" he asked, watching her closely.

"An amazing man who is sadly no longer with us." She said, thinking of her mentor at the school. "He had an amazing gift." She smiled, "he was a telepath; try as I might, I couldn't lie to him, he showed me things about myself that I never imagined."

Loki watched the sadness in her eyes as she spoke of his man; it was clear that he was very important to her and it saddened him that the loss of him hurt her.

"Why would you fix me?"

She had avoided talk of his brother, though Loki no longer considered him such, because she did not want to upset him and possibly ruin the trust they had, but she knew she needed to be honest.

"Originally, I wanted to find you as a favour to your brother who has been a good friend to me," she could see the rage and hurt in his eyes, "but when I saw what they had done to you, I knew deep within, that we are two kindred souls and that I alone would be able to help you through what had happened." She slid her hand into his hair; "Now Loki, I would help heal you because you matter to me; you have opened yourself to me and allowed me to open myself to you."

She watched Loki's eyes drift closed at her touch and heard him sigh. She rubbed his scalp for him, earning a soft moan. She let her hand drift through his hair and down the back of his neck and along the sides. She watched goose bumps break out along his skin and saw his lips part gently, his breath coming a bit harsher. She froze with her fingers where his neck met his right shoulder, she didn't want to hurt him.

"Please…" his voice was ragged.

"Please what?" she asked him, watching the pain and desire on his face.

"More." He whispered, his eyes opening looking as deep and dark as the sea.

Leigh would never understand what drew her to her next action, but she gently stroked Loki's neck and leaned closer until she could feel his breath against her lips.

"Yes…" the word was so soft if she hadn't been close she wouldn't have heard it.

Leigh cupped the back of Loki's head gently and touched her lips to his; their coolness wasn't as much of a shock as she would have thought, but the sudden stab of desire at the contact did. His lips pressed back against hers tentatively and she angled her head slightly so they could feel more of each other. The press and release of two people learning each other for the first time was intense.

Loki was in turmoil, the things this mortal woman made him feel were wholly unknown to him. He a god of Asgard, the man who should be King above all, brought to his metaphorical knees by a human. Her fingers traced paths of fire against his neck while her lips stroked and teased his own. He lifted his right arm to cup her cheek and swore he heard her moan at the touch of his cool skin. Why the Allfather had left his skin so cold while he was mortal was not something he wanted to think about, but Leigh seemed to enjoy his touch.

Leigh slowly pulled back from Loki even though she didn't want to; she could see the lust and confusion in his eyes and knew that as much as they might be drawn to each other, neither of them were ready for what that attraction could lead to.

"Stark to Harris, you got a few minutes?"

Leigh looked at Loki, he'd been okay with her leaving him alone for short periods of time the last couple days.

"How long do you need Tony?"

"I've finished that search you asked for, thought you'd want to go over the list."

"How long?"

"Half an hour, maybe?"

"Fine." She sighed, "I'll meet you in your office in five." She gently stroke Loki's cheek. "I'll be back soon as I can be, I promise."

The god nodded and she turned and left the room, hoping Tony had gotten them one step closer to figuring out who had hurt the man she had just left.