"But I feel fine," Loki murmured. He looked around the room at the faces all wearing different degrees of disbelief. "Really. I do."

"Uh-uh." Thor easily appeared the most stricken, as he took in the sight of his brother sitting calmly in a pool of his own blood. Loki's bath robe was completely soaked through by now and it made a squelching sound as he helped hoist Loki off the wheelchair and onto the examining table.

"Coming through, coming through!" No longer groggy at having been wakened from sleep, Bruce wheeled out what appeared to be a machine of some sort, sleek and streamlined with LCD panels and probe-like devices of various sizes and shapes lined in a row.

Stephen's eyes immediately brightened. "Oh, thank God."

"Yes, yes, you should deify me, I am Bruce Banner, the God of Good Timing," the physicist offered a tight smile. He blinked owlishly. "I'm starting to believe this is all some kind of divine intervention. Somebody up there must either hate you or love you very much, Loki."

"You don't know?" Loki asked stonily. "I'm cursed."

That earned him a whapping on the head. "Ow! Thor, what the Hel?"

"Then do not talk like that!"

"Where did you get that?" Stephen murmured, his hands working to wrap the blood pressure cuff around Loki's upper arm, yet his eyes were admiring the ultrasound machine. "That is top-of-the-line model."

"You know Tony. Only the best for him, and only the best for his friends."

Stephen lifted his eyebrows. "I must thank him."

"Indeed you must." Bruce gave Loki a pointed look. "And you should apologise for throwing a knife at his head."

"I would die first before I would do any such thing." Then, "Ow!" Loki reared his head. "Thor, I swear, if you hit me one more time…"

"Loki, shut up." Stephen palmed Loki's shoulder and forced him to lie back. As reassuring as it was that Loki was conscious and talking and not in excruciating pain, the amount of blood he had lost was worrying. Their room looked like a murder scene. The only consolation was having Thor around to manhandle his brother into the wheelchair; short of manacling him, Stephen would not have been able to stop Loki from walking his way to the infirmary as he had so insisted at first.

Clearly, Loki was in a state of denial.

Stephen watched Loki wave a hand to magic the bloody mess away for the third time and just as quickly, fresh red blood bloomed again on the sheet he was propped on. "Loki, save your magic. You'll tire yourself out."

Loki swallowed hard. "But there is nothing wrong with me. I feel fine." He concentrated as he felt for something within him, "And the baby's fine too." In fact, his unborn son had not stopped moving at all since the bleeding started, like he was restless too. Surely that was a good sign, right?

Thor clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'm sure he is, Brother. But just let the doctors take a look at you first, alright?"

A sudden gush of wetness seeped from underneath him, and instantly his thighs felt slick and sticky. Loki whimpered softly but said nothing further. He leaned his head back in resignation as Bruce inserted an intravenous line into his arm. He had half a mind to tell Bruce to just leave the damn thing in. It would save everyone the effort the next time his traitorous body decided to bleed like a leaky pipe; it seemed like the trendy thing to do nowadays.

"Brother, shall I leave?" Thor asked, heavy reluctance evident in his voice as Stephen reached to loosen the tie around Loki's robes in preparation to examine him. Loki's hand was fast to grab onto his brother's. No.

Thor worried at the clammy frigidness of his brother's fingers and he knew; Loki was terrified. "Comfort, Brother."

"It's too early, Thor," Loki whispered. "It's still too early,"

"Hush now, Loki." Thor unconsciously rubbed his palms over Loki's cold fingers as if trying to suffuse some warmth into them.

"Estimated blood loss so far, Strange?" Bruce murmured, hanging up a bag of saline.

Stephen thought of the bloodied robe, the sheets and the puddles on the floor and dripping off the wheelchair. "At least 600 cc," he said quietly, not wanting to raise any alarm. That was already approximately one-tenth of Loki's blood volume and if he continued to bleed heavily, there was going to be trouble. Loki was starting to look very pale now from blood loss or nerves, most likely both. Without saying a word, Bruce quickly substituted a bag of Loki's own blood for the saline.

"Any pain anywhere?" Stephen inquired, feeling Loki's belly gently. The prince shook his head numbly. Satisfied with the absence of contractions or other abnormal findings, Stephen whispered a generic Healing Spell under his breath in the hopes that his sentient magic could reach out and halt the progression of whatever disease or illness that was causing the latest in a long string of complications; to say it had not been an easy pregnancy would be a gross understatement.

Loki squirmed, wincing in pain as he felt the magic burn through the layers of his skin and mingle with his own seiðr, as incompatible as oil and water. But despite the initial discomfort, he was soon soothed by the sudden cessation of the gushing sensation he had been intermittently experiencing from down below. At the very least he would no longer be assaulted by the nauseating smell of his own blood.

His relief was short-lived and his eyes narrowed suspiciously when Stephen reached for the ultrasound probe and squirted some kind of gel onto the transducer. "What are you doing?"

"It's a scan machine, Loki. We mortals use it to look into people's bodies because we can't exactly see through flesh –" Stephen's eyes softened, "- and because it gives us nice pictures."

Seeing his unborn son for the second time was no less thrilling than the first, and the sudden hush that had befallen the room was one filled with wondrous marvel, if Loki's little gasp of surprise was of any indication. Stephen could not help but smile despite his worry.

"He's a good-looking one. I can tell. He's got my cheekbones," He quipped.

Loki could not speak. He could only nod, and as he blinked furiously against the sudden assault of dust, he turned his gaze away from the screen. At the sight of the unspoken question, Stephen said reassuringly, "Our little one's doing just fine, Loki."

It was a long while before Loki finally gave in, his form physically relaxing as the tension left his body. "Good," he breathed out finally. "Good."

"And the bleeding? Any idea what's causing it?" Bruce asked quietly and a sombre mood fell over the room once more.

Stephen nodded reluctantly. "It's just as I thought. See there?" He pointed his finger at a dense collection of placental tissue at the very base of the womb. "That's the cervical os, or the opening to the inside of the uterus. In labor, that's the part that dilates and opens until it is big enough to let the baby through."

"The afterbirth is too closely encroached onto the margin, it's covering almost half of it." Stephen sighed. "The Latin name for it is placenta praevia but trust me, the name may sound pretty, but that's about the only pretty thing about it."

"So, it's nasty huh." Bruce guessed.

"Pretty nasty." Stephen sighed again, looking very glum. Oh boy.

"I am right here." Loki was as white as the sheet he was lying on, despite the bleeding that had largely stopped. He did not particularly like the expression Stephen was wearing on his face, like he knew something…

The very face that said it was something important enough to not tell Loki about. "Kindly explain to me what the Hel is going on before I lose it and stab somebody."

"Ninety-percent of the time, the placenta moves upward as the womb grows larger with time. However, in your case, the placenta is located so down low that as the womb stretches it sort of pulls on the placenta, causing it to bleed - the placenta is essentially your baby's only source of oxygen and food, so it is very heavily vascularised. There may not be pain, but you can actually bleed to death from it."

"W-Why- Wha-" Loki frowned, momentarily at a loss for words. "Was it something I did?"

Stephen carefully thought over his answer. "Technically, no and yes. You…have never had this sort of thing happen in your previous -?" Loki shook his head, none of his previous pregnancies had ever come close to being this eventful, not that he could remember anyway, it had been centuries.

When Stephen hesitated again, Loki decided he had had enough. "For Norns' sake, just spit it out, Strange!"

"Two months ago when you nearly died from internal bleeding, one of the healing methods we used to stop the haemorrhage was to reattach a segment of the placenta that had detached from the trauma of your fall, back onto the uterine wall and fuse it together."

It was a distant memory for Loki as he had been unconscious for the most part of it, but Stephen did explain to him in brief what had happened.

"The binding spell was successful in arresting the bleeding…" Stephen halted. "But I'm afraid as a consequence, it might also have stopped the natural progression of the placenta from moving upwards, away from the opening of the cervix."

"Alright. And?" Loki pressed.

"Usually it doesn't cause much of a problem aside from the occasional bleeding every once in a while, but we have to monitor you very closely from now on, because there is always the danger of recurrence of the massive bleeding as we have witnessed tonight - and if you end up losing too much…well."

The dire implication remained unspoken but clearly understood; there was no mistaking the look of frustration on Loki's face.

"And?" Loki growled impatiently, ever and always the perspicacious pain in Stephen's ass. "You are not finished, Strange."

"You will have to be on bed rest for the next couple of days. No walking, no jumping, no climbing, no horseback riding, no flying, no nothing. Except for toileting. And even that I would suggest using the…ah…bedpa-" Stephen's voice trailed. The fury was coming off Loki in waves. "In simple terms, nothing more vigorous than blinking."

"I suppose breathing is allowed?" Loki asked sweetly.

"Got it. No more vigorous activities." Thor placed a warning hand on Loki's shoulder. Loki shrugged it off. "I told you foraging was a bad idea, Loki." Thor growled, his face growing dark.

"That was ages ago, Thor," Loki snapped. "Oh, and thank you so much for revoking my privileges, it is bad enough that I can no longer leave the grounds whenever I please, I now have the Valkyrie shadowing my every move –"

"If she hadn't you would be lying in a ditch somewhere, perhaps dead and unfound still, and over what?" Thor threw his hands up in frustration, "Mushrooms?"

Stephen straightened like he had been doused with icy water. This was news to him.

"They were golden chanterelles and they were in season and I wanted them!"

"Yes, and what Loki wants Loki always gets! No matter the cost!" Thor slammed a hand down on the trolley table, sending various surgical equipment supplies flying everywhere. "Well, not anymore!"

"Guys, guys, calm down –" Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.

Loki was livid. Seiðr began to roll off him in waves and Stephen knew if he did not step in, someone was going to get very hurt.

"It wasn't Loki's fault, Thor," Stephen interjected. "It was mine."

"Stephen, stop it," Loki said quietly.

"Loki hasn't done anything."

"Well?" Thor crossed his gigantic arms across his generous chest. "What was it that he has supposedly not done?"

"Thor, if you speak one more word –" Loki hissed. "I will leave Asgard tonight and I will never come back and you will never see me again, I swear it."

Thor reared back as if slapped.

"And you." Loki's green eyes locked onto Stephen like a bullseye – "I will not have my private bedroom matters be discussed in the open like it is a matter of public interest!"

Before anyone could stop him, Loki ripped the cannula out of his arm, gathered the robe around his middle, slid off the bed, nearly slipping on a puddle of his own blood - "I will not have it!" - and strode out of the infirmary in a blur of white, red and black.

Thor's hands slowly dropped to his side, stunned.

"Vigorous activities," Bruce murmured. He sighed. And pulled off his spectacles, once again splattered with blood. "I suppose you also meant…lovemaking?"

Stephen palmed a hand over his eyes. What a bloody disaster. Literally.

It took Thor a second too late to fully understand. When he finally did, all at once he appeared lost, and longanimous in the face of what could only be centuries of long-suffering for the sake of his brother.

"Ah."

"Did you draw the short straw, Dr. Banner?" Loki's voice should have drifted off in the wind, but it was as crisp as the morning air, and twice as sharp. "Come you here to appease the beast? An offering of some sort?"

The beast appeasing the beast. How very proper.

Bruce shrugged. "There is only me to draw anything, really. Your brother and the good Doctor are currently engaged in a rather deep conversation I do not wish to be a part of."

The dawn was breaking and the skyline was beautiful. It did not take long for Bruce to figure out where Loki was. There were not many places that could rival the cliff; it was a place of love, of heartbreak and goodbyes.

Bruce sat down next to him on the rocks, not too closely but not too far away either.

Loki closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. "I fear I am not in the right mind to be around anybody at the moment, Bruce."

"You are not in the right mind to not be with someone at the moment, Loki."

Loki's face was drawn and pale but his eyes were rimmed with red.

"Am I cursed?"

"If having people love you so much that they are willing to incur your wrath in order to protect you is a curse, then yes, you are cursed."

Bruce leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. "Doubly cursed, I think, in your case."

"Love is a fleeting, fragile thing. Hardly won, easily lost."

Loki's voice sounded too much like a strangled sob. Bruce turned his head in alarm.

"Do you know what it took to make Thor love me, Bruce?"

Bruce shook his head slowly, horrified. "No, Loki…"

"I feel like the entire universe is colluding against me-" Loki's eyes filled with tears, hard and fast and hot; there was no stopping them – "making me g-go through it all over again."

"Do I really have to die again before the Norns see me fit and deserving of Stephen's love? Of our child?" Loki cupped both hands over his face, his thin frame wracked with silent sobs. "How many times this time?"

"Loki." Bruce reached out a hand, not nearly touching –

"Loki. Do not be alarmed. But I am going to need to hug you."

Loki did not answer. Bruce could see the tears seep through his long, pale fingers.

"You need to let me hug you. Now. Alright?"

Loki nodded once slowly. Then he nodded again, vigorously this time, frantically.

And for the first time ever since their involuntary falling into reluctant friendship, Bruce Banner pulled Loki in and hugged him gently at first, then tightly as Loki wept and wept –

"Can I not just be happy?"

And for the first time, Bruce did not try to come up with an answer at all, for it was highly unlikely it was one Loki could accept, so distraught was he – so Bruce just stayed quiet and held him tighter, hoping against hope it was enough for now to pull Loki back from the edge.

"I've given him something to help him sleep." The sleeping draught had worked wonders, the Healers of Asgard's expertise in botany was unrivaled; no sooner had Loki's head hit the pillow than he drifted off into a gentle, deep slumber. "He needs his rest, after all."

"Thank you, Bruce." Thor said grimly.

Stephen was leaning against the wall a few feet away, studiously studying the ground. "We need to put him on a pad chart, watch out for further bleeding-"

"Done that. I've let the Healers know the Prince will be resting in his own chamber and that he will allow them entry on a four-hourly basis so they could chart the necessary observations. I have also installed an alarm right next to his bed in cases of emergency should he be incapacitated, and that we be alerted immediately."

"Is he alright?" Stephen finally lifted his head, his grey eyes solemn and largely unreadable save for the unmistakable glimmer of anxiety.

"I…would be cautious around him for now." Bruce hesitated. "He is not doing all too great, you know, inside."

"I should like to see him and apologise," Thor looked at Loki's closed doors longingly.

"Far be it from me to tell you what you can and cannot do, Thor, or Stephen too really, but I strongly advise you be close but not…pushy. For now." Bruce sighed, still more than a little worried. "Be gentle with him, both of you."

At their crestfallen looks, Bruce decided to take pity on his friends. "Look. He loves you both, that much I can tell. And you love him. We all do, in our own way."

He raked a hand through his hair, "But we need to help convince him of that, because behind all that talk and swagger?" Bruce waved a hand at the closed doors, "He is still so lost in self-hate he doesn't believe he deserves any of it."