All the super soldiers were dead.

I stood in the doorway of the TV room in the Avengers HQ mansion watching the news footage. Several of the others were in the room proper either sitting or standing, their eyes glued to the screen, as images of the transport vehicles that had been carrying the serum-enhanced people on fire played on a loop to accompany the voices of the reporters. Explosive devices had somehow been rigged to the vehicles, devices that had escaped the notice of security, and they were set off at the same time. There were no survivors in the still burning wrecks that remained of the armored transports.

"I guess this means we won't have to worry about any of them breaking out," Nat commented. Sam, who was sitting beside her, just scoffed.

Several pairs of eyes shifted to stare at Loki, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He noticed and stared at everyone in return. "What are you looking at? I had nothing to do with it." It annoyed me that he was the first person everyone thought of when it came to this particular news, but I guessed old habits died hard. Didn't mean it wasn't aggravating. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, leaning my head on his chest. He started calming down, and after a few moments he engulfed me in his arms.

"We know, man, just wanted to be sure. Some of them were trying to take a strip out of her hide, after all," Sam responded, pointing his chin towards me, referring to the times when I was jumped by a few of those super soldiers, and acknowledging Loki's overprotective tendencies. "I don't think any of us would blame you if you did do it."

Those last words mollified Loki, but I wasn't so sure I liked Sam encouraging Loki's habit of retaliating against anyone who threatened or even slighted me in the past or present. It was bad enough I had to talk him out of going to the Raft to pay Zemo a visit. Speaking of which...

I stiffened. No. What I was thinking was impossible. Wasn't it?

"What is it?" Loki had felt the change in my posture and now he run his hand over my hair. "Speak, Pet. What are you thinking?"

"Who do we know hates super soldiers with a burning passion, and wouldn't hesitate to eliminate them at any cost?"

I felt the others staring at my back. "He's in prison," Bucky pointed out.

"Sure he is." Zemo had money, and he had connections. Being behind bars wouldn't stop him.

"Perhaps we should go to the Raft and check, just in case." Loki sounded nonchalant, but I knew better. I leaned my head back and narrowed my eyes at him. He returned my glare with an unrepentant smirk and tugged at a lock of my hair. I really couldn't take him anywhere.

There were a couple other theories that were bounced around the room, but in the end no one really drew any definitive conclusions. The group broke apart after a while. Bucky caught up to me as I made my way back to my desk. "Your theory's actually something I'd like to look into," Bucky told me while I sat. "I think I might pay a visit to the Raft."

Alarmed, I shot up again so that I could look down the hall and make sure Bucky wasn't overheard.

"Don't worry," he assured me, dry amusement in his voice. "I made sure Loki wasn't nearby to overhear before I said that."

"Good, cause you know he'd want to join you." I sat back down. "You'll let me know how it goes?"

"I was actually wondering if you'd want to come with."

I shook my head. "I've had enough of Zemo to last me a lifetime...my lifetime." Besides, Loki would hit the roof. We didn't lie to each other, even by omission, so I would tell him about it. If I told him before going, he'd want to come with and there would be no guarantees that I'd be able to talk him out of doing something. If I told him after, he'd be furious and then I'd be facing a punishment. Either way, it wouldn't be pretty.

I told Loki about Bucky's trip that evening as the two of us ate our dinner of baked chicken with sauteed peppers and greens. I had actually been worried about Bucky going to see Zemo by himself, and had taken that worry out in the kitchen. I might have gotten a little carried away with the tenderizer, a fact that Loki confirmed when he observed, "No wonder you were doing your best to make sure the poultry was truly dead."

"I thought you preferred your meat tender."

"Tender, yes. Mashed into a fine paste, no." He poured more wine for both of us. "You could have gone with him."

I gave him a suspicious look. "Would you have stayed behind?"

Loki didn't even hesitate. "No."

I rolled my eyes. "And they say I'm getting overprotective..." I had spent that morning grinding my teeth and sitting on my hands while watching Steve move around the mansion's kitchen making himself coffee and toast, his body swaying on his unsteady feet, his hands reaching out to catch himself on the table and counters. I knew I was driving him insane, and in fact he had banished to my desk while threatening to put me on unpaid leave if I dared move from my chair.

Then there had been my reaction to Sharon Carter. I still refused to allow the others to tell me where she was.

"You are," Loki retorted. "It's a little disconcerting. We need to work on helping you manage those tendencies before you end up alienating everyone. The Avengers are grown people who are capable of looking after themselves, even Steve as he is now."

"In other words," I said dryly. "Right now, I'm annoying but I'm starting to veer into the territory of straight up pissing everyone off." That was sobering. I didn't have a lot of friends. The Avengers were it. I really didn't want to make them hate me. I would have to start watching myself.

"It isn't quite that bad, Pet. The others are aware that you cannot help it, and that those newborn instincts are very new to you and they are difficult to navigate. It would be best to start working on them now, while they are still fledgling."

I paused in the act of cutting into my chicken. "Please tell me that wasn't a bird joke."

He smiled. "Well, you are an-"

"Shut it."

His smile turned into a frown. "Pet, you will eventually have to come to terms with it. It has been a persistent elephant in the room ever since you arrived on this Earth."

I set my utensils down and pinched the bridge of my nose between a thumb and forefinger. With a sigh, I replied, "I know. I know, Loki. But with everything else, Steve, Zemo...I just want a little more time before I have to confront it. Please?"

I wasn't ready. I really, really wasn't.

Loki reached for my hand and squeezed it. "Alright," he nodded as he let it go to press his knuckles against my cheek. He cleared his throat and went back to his meal. "So, I learned something interesting today. Margaret Carter was the love of Steve's life back in the 1940s, correct?"

"Yes..." I affirmed suspiciously. As a change in topic, it was a very abrupt one. It took me off guard, and I could tell that was the exact effect Loki had intended.

"Well, apparently, despite being Margaret's niece, Sharon was also-"

I dropped my knife and fork, clapped my hands over my ears, and shouted, "NOT LISTENING!"

"You don't get to do that," Loki jabbed his fork in my direction. "If I had to hear about it, so do you."

"Nope. This is where I draw the line. I don't want to know, and you can't make me!"

He glowered. "That is rather childish."

"You call it childish. I call it making sure I will still be able to look Steve in the eye without cringing. Not only is he my friend, he's my boss so I have deal with him almost every day. I don't have the option of avoiding him after finding out-" I shut up because if I said anything more than that, I really wouldn't be able to look at Steve without thinking about it. "I love you, Loki, but if you tell me what you know, I will divorce you without hesitation."

"We are not married."

"I don't care."

We ate in silence for a few minutes after I had to walk into the kitchen to get clean utensils. Not that I had to worry about germs, but it was the principle of the thing. "Perhaps we should be," Loki stated suddenly.

"Should be what?" If he brought up Sharon again, he would be sleeping alone for the next three nights.

"Married."

I dropped my utensils for the second time that evening, the knife and fork clanging onto the plate, ricocheting off the edge of the table, and landing on the floor with a loud ringing clatter. I was sure I came close to losing a couple of toes, but wasn't really thinking about that at the moment.

Loki smiled without humor. "Is the idea of being married to me that dreadful?"

"Of course not! That just...that came out of left field." Also, as far as proposals went, that one sucked.

"Not for me. I have actually had it on my mind for several months, even before Steve was taken."

"You just decided to wait until it had been over a year before bringing that up. That's some admirable restraint, Loki." It really was. If Loki had brought up marriage before we'd even been with one another a year, it would have scared me. Just moving in with him had been terrifying, but after I was finally able to let him touch me, it hadn't been long before being separated for a prolonged period made both of us moody and, according to Thor, impossible to be around.

Tony and Steve kept my old apartment above the bakery empty except for a few pieces of living room furniture that came with the place. Both of them said it was just in case I came to my senses.

"It gave me time to design our rings," Loki had a dreamy look on his face. "I have a jewelry smith in New Asgard working on them. They both...actually, I believe I would rather surprise you.

My mouth was dry. I needed more wine. It sucked that I couldn't get any sort of buzz from alcohol anymore. Even the Asgardian stuff didn't do shit to me. We had tried. I had to endure the death stares from Loki, Thor, Valkyrie, and several other Asgardians when they had all collapsed around the bar groaning while I had resorted to playing MarioCart alone because everyone else was too drunk to play with me.

It wasn't that I didn't want to marry Loki. I did. I really did. It was the planning, it was the fact that I had imagined that when that day came it would be with my sisters as my bridesmaids, my mother in the bridal suite with me helping me put on my dress, my father walking me down the aisle. It was the idea of being a Princess. Holy shit, I was going to be a Princess. And...

"Oh God. I am not going to be the one to tell your brother. You can handle that part."

His smile this time was genuine, joy radiating off him. "So you agree? That we should be married?"

I stared at him. "This has to be the least romantic proposal ever."

I didn't see him move. I thought I was staring right at him, but then his hands grabbed my arms, pulled me out of my chair, and pressed me against his hard, wiry body while he gave me a kiss that melted my bones. Sparks sent hot spots traveling up and down my spine. His hand slipped between our bodies and traveled to my neck, where it wrapped around my throat.

He broke the kiss gently, squeezed my throat lightly, and gazed into my eyes. "Marry me," Loki crooned in his soft, honeyed voice. It wasn't a question. It was a command.

Now that was a proposal.

Turned out it didn't matter which of us broke the news to Thor. I wasn't able to escape the assault on my ribs that he called a hug. "Now you'll be my sister in truth!" he exclaimed, as I tapped frantically on his forearm in a futile attempt to signal he had to let up. Something in my torso had creaked.

"Brother, please do not crush my bride before we have begun planning the ceremony," Loki intervened, but he found it funny.

"Oh, the ceremony! We need to tell our people right away! Loki is a Prince of Asgard, so it will have to be in New Asgard, of course, and I will need to inform the cooks so they can have time to plan the wedding feast, and the seamstresses will need to consult you on the gown...unless there is anything you already have in mind, Tracy...and we need to figure out entertainment, issue invitations, arrange accommodations..."

"Stop. Please. Let me have a breather before throwing me into the deep end," I protested. I felt someone come up behind me. "Please don't squeeze! I'm sure Thor already cracked something!"

Steve's arm came around my shoulder and he pulled me in for a gentle hug. "It's about time."

"Yeah it is," Sam went over to shake Loki's hand. "So, who you want planning your bachelor party?"

Thor had a wide grin and was practically rubbing his hands together. Loki scoffed. "No one. I know what goes on with Midgardian celebrations of that sort. If I wish to see a nude woman, I have one at home."

Steve chuckled. "It's really not for the groom, Loki. Bachelor parties are an excuse for the groom's single friends to cut loose."

"I refuse to serve as an 'excuse' for you rowdy mortals to drunk beyond excess and ogle women who get paid to remove their clothing."

I could feel Thor, Sam, and Steve plotting, and had to fight back a grin. Loki was fighting a losing battle, and I was staying out of it.

"Enough of this! Are we gonna play, or what?" Bucky handed Sam a loaded paintball gun. Loki had finally decided to take the invitation to join us for paintball Saturday, but since it would have made our teams unbalanced since Nat decided to tag along as well, Thor decided to join as well just to see what the fuss was about. I was already dreading it, but at least it would distract him from planning mine and Loki's wedding.

My enhanced senses and empathy still gave me an unfair advantage, so I didn't protest when the blindfold was brought out. Loki was alto happy to tie it on himself. "This is giving me ideas, Pet," he purred in my ear.

We had just gotten through spending the entire night and most of the morning "celebrating" our engagement. Christ, he was insatiable.

Steve was acting as referee, though I could feel his wistful desire to actually join in the game. Bruce and Stephen had both said no, at least for now. He might be able to rejoin the game after healing more and being on his vitamin and heart medicine regimen for a bit. That would make the teams unbalanced again, especially if Thor decided he liked paintball enough to join us permanently, but we'd deal with it if and when we came to it.

It was Thor, Nat, and myself against Loki, Bucky, and Sam. It was about as evenly matched as we could make it. Despite the blindfold, I still had an advantage, so I knew the other team were going to attempt to take me out first. We took our places near our flag, all the way across the forest from the other side's base, and waited for Steve to blow the whistle.

I set out once he did. I had grown up a city girl, so I was about as stealthy in the woods as a drunken elephant. My enhanced senses might have given me an advantage, but it wasn't much of one, not when the opposing team could hear me coming from a mile away. Nat noticed and commented on it. "Remind me to teach you how to move quietly," she hissed in my direction, knowing that I could hear her.

I sent her a dismissive wave. Well, I had an invitation to go see the Dora Milaje and they moved very quietly. Maybe they could give me some pointers.

I climbed a tree and stayed motionless for about an hour. When I heard leaves rustling, I shot in the direction of the sound. Then I yelped at the sharp sting on my right buttock, so startled that I jumped off the limb I had been crouched on and landed on the ground. I landed on my feet, thankfully.

I tore the blindfold off and turned so I could look at my butt, which now sported a bright green blotch. "Loki!"

"You're supposed to keep the blindfold on, Pet."

I didn't have to look very hard to spot him. Dressed in dark camo, brandishing his gun, and smirking. "You shot me in the ass!"

"So I did. I shall do far worse if you do not follow the rules and put the blindfold back on."

"I'll just shut my eyes really tight," I growled, and squeezed my lids closed as I took aim.

"Pet, don't even thi-"

I fired, and heard Loki let loose some very rare swear words. I kept shooting. He was probably drenched in pink by now, and I was going to pay for it later, but I just wanted retaliation. Being shot in the butt by a paintball really smarted.

My rampage didn't last long. Loki's hand grabbed the barrel of the rifle, and his other hand took hold of mine. "Enough! You, woman, are in very big trouble!"

I cracked open an eye and collapsed into giggles. Loki was covered from neck to ankle in pink paint. His arms were crossed as he glared at me, doing his best to appear disgruntled. "Um...I'm just marking my territory?"

He tried to fight his grin, and failed. "Possessive little minx, are you?"

"Damn right."

He shook his head, grabbed the back of my neck, and hauled me in for a kiss that promised some very good things later on, despite the threat of punishment.

Then another paintball struck my back. More hit my butt, my arms, the backs of my legs. Loki's fingers tightened, and I knew he was getting hit as well. Our teammates had turned on us, making it known that they didn't appreciate this interlude. We didn't care, taking our time ending the kiss as our friends used up all of their ammo trying to break us up. By the time we were finished, both of us were splattered in orange, yellow, blue, and white.

"You two!" Steve shouted, "Get a room!"