Chapter 15

"Sir, you have to stay still. I need to treat you."

Thor completely ignored the fretting nurse that scampered after him as he marched up and down the ward, staring at face after face in each bed that he passed. None were the face he was looking for.

"You may treat my wounds after I find Maria." he growled, tearing back the curtains surrounding one bed, only to be disappointed by the elderly man inside. He didn't miss the patch on the gentleman's arm though, the small circular blot of red staining the bandages. He'd been shot, Thor realised as he moved on. He recognised the wound, the same one's stinging the muscle of his left shoulder and the bicep of his right arm, bared for all the world to see after the nurse had made him abandon his shirt. When she'd tried to treat him though, he'd lost patience and went in search of Maria, knowing that she too was injured.

Thor tried to grit his teeth against the memory of her cries but it was useless, the echoing sound from long ago still fresh in his mind. He'd felt the way her body had shuddered from the impact behind him, feeling her crumple...

Thor half wished he'd killed her vermin of a brother but he'd held back, leaving the pathetic excuse for life to the law enforcers. Killing him would have been too easy, he'd decided. Too quick. Too merciful. At least this way, alive and captive, he'd have the rest of his life to suffer for what he'd done.

His eyes scoured up the last of the beds up along the ward, growing more and more frustrated and angry. Where were they keeping her? He was her protector - it was his right to check on her welfare, to be able to see her! He stormed up to the last of the beds, shielded with a pale blue curtain and tore it open, his face still thunderous.

It softened instantly as he found her.

"Maria..." he strode inside, casting back the curtain against the pestering nurse. Maria was curled up at the very head of the bed, one knee drawn up to her chest, hugged their tightly, while the other leg was splayed out bent down the bed. Not broken, Thor decided as he scoured his eyes over her thigh and calf, fully exposed to him as her trousers were folded at the foot of the bed. It wasn't hard to see why: a white patch, with slight red marks was pressed to the side of her body, somewhere between where her hip met her thigh. He longed to lean in and inspect it himself, but judging by the way Maria trembled, her head buried in her folded arms, he didn't think he'd be doing her any favours.

He perched on the bedside and tentatively reached out his arm to her. His fingers brushed another bandage on her upper arm and she flinched. Finally, Thor dropped his hand back to his side.

His eyes gleamed over her fragile form, his heart tugging at his helplessness. "What can I do?" he asked softly. He guessed by the way her head lightly bobbed that she was crying.

Slowly, Maria's head lifted and he drank in the tears streaming thick and fast down her cheeks. Her hand covered her mouth as her eyes met his, gleaming with a despair that broke Thor's heart with a sharp crack. He couldn't help himself: ignoring his body's protests he reached forward and scooped Maria in his arms, careful not to touch or jostle her injured hip or arm. He held her close to him, hand gently at the back of her head as she cried into his bare chest. Her small body rocked with sobs, and Thor felt the moisture of her tears on his skin. He had to remind himself not to hold her too tightly.

Instead, he peeled her back slightly and cupped her face in his hands, kissing her cheeks, her forehead, her closed eyelids, her mouth - desperate for her to know how relieved he was that she was safe, that she was alive! He didn't stop until he'd kissed every pearly tear from her face, and new ones stopped taking their place.

Maria slumped against his body weakly, her hand resting gently on his broad chest.

"He tried to kill me, Thor." she mumbled numbly against his skin. "I never thought he would go that far." She pulled back slightly, her fingers trailing upwards as her eyes found the wound on his shoulder. Her eyes glistened dangerously, the breath hitching in her throat. "I'm so sorry he hurt you-"

Thor caught her wrist before she could dissolve in sobs again and hide her face from him, his arm at her back pulling her closer. He crashed his mouth down on hers before she could say anything else, cry for anything else, tasting the lingering saltiness of her tears on her lips. He kissed her hard, devouring her mouth with his needily, flattening her body to him. He needed to hold her, to reassure himself that she was still here in his arms, alive and well enough to kiss him back.

When he pulled back, he was breathless, but it didn't stop him kissing her cheeks again. "I would take a thousand bullets for you." he breathed huskily against her skin, feeling his heartbeat pound against her tiny body.

She merely whimpered in reply, fighting against another wave of anguish.

"Maria," Thor carefully placed his hand at the side of her face, angling her head so she was forced to look into his sincere crystal blue eyes. "I am not hurt." he half lied, with a flicker of a smile. "I have faced much worse than this, and Asgardians heal differently to mortals. I will be fine within a week. It is yourself you ought to be concerned about." Thor would be fine, he knew that. He'd said a week, but it might not even take that long - he was an Asgardian. Mortal weapons couldn't inflict much damage to him.

To Maria, on the other hand...

Thor was relieved when she half shrugged her shoulder, a almost undetectable curve kissing the corner of her mouth. "He only grazed me." she murmured. "I won't even have a limp."

Thor smiled, sighing with relief. His fingers roamed to lightly seize her chin as he descended his mouth tenderly upon hers.

XXX

An hour later, Maria and Thor sat in the waiting room of the hospital, Maria cradled delicately in Thor's lap with her head on his shoulder. His fingers stroked gently though her hair, pausing only for him to interrupt with soft kisses to her forehead whenever he felt her start to shudder against him.

She hadn't said a word since he'd last kissed her; she just held a dull, lifelessness in her eyes. Her wounds were dressed and covered and - as she'd predicted! - she didn't even have a limp. Just a small chunk of her upper arm was missing, noticable only with a small ridge denting the smooth skin of her arm, hidden by the bandage. The only sign to show she was really conscious was the occasional tug at Thor's shirt as her trembling took hold again.

After what felt like a lifetime, Jane exploded through the door.

"Oh my God, Maria. Are you okay?"

Thor opened his arms for Maria to rise and let her friend throw her arms around her, less than gently. Jane hugged Maria close, then held her at arms length, running her eyes up and down her frail form critically before crushing her into a hug again. Thor watched the endless cycle with sympathy.

"I'm okay." Maria finally shuddered, a ripple coursing through her body and Jane pulled back again. "Thor's worse. He actually got hit. I was just skimmed."

Thor's jaw set. He could practically hear the double meaning in Maria's words, screaming at him so boldly it made him want to take up the small woman in his arms once more, only this time he wouldn't be so easy to let her go. They both knew what would have happened if he hadn't been in the bullets path: Maria would have at least two more wounds, and they wouldn't have just been grazes. He tried to keep the image from his head but it kept creeping up, visions of Maria's body lying still and lifeless on a hospital bed plaguing his mind, two distinct circles of red bleeding where her heart would be and on the other side of her chest, eyes wide, but vacant and glassy. His fists clenched and unclenched tensely. Without him, Maria would be dead. Of that much he was certain. And it burned him inside.

He guessed Jane made a similar connection too, as her sharp eyes locked on him over Maria's shoulder. "You!" She jabbed a finger at him, peeling away from Maria.

Thor barely had time to tense before Jane threw herself at him. Combined with the blazing look in her eye and the unpredictable spirit he knew to be inside her, he expected her to swing for him, bracing himself for an impact - so it surprised the hell out of him when she clamped her hands either side of his face and planted a sloppy kiss on his mouth!

"You wonderful, wonderful man!" she half shrieked, kissing him again and again, ignoring the way Thor tried to push her away. "Thank God Maria found you! You are most definitely coming to my wedding. I can never thank you enough!"

"We can't come to the wedding."

Maria's voice seemed to echo around the small waiting room, freezing both Thor and Jane. Thor frowned at her curiously, taking in the sadness and the touch of fear in her eyes. Even Jane seemed stunned, staggering back from Thor and staring at her friend with a surprising gentleness. "What?" she finally stammered at Maria.

Thor leaned forward, eager to hear Maria's answer.

He didn't miss the way she gulped before her glistening eyes trained on him. "We're going away for a while." she said more to him than to Jane. "We're leaving."

XXX

"You are sure you want to do this?"

Thor had his arm slung around Maria's shoulder, leaning her against his warm body as they wondered out the back door of the hospital with slow, lazy steps. She had Thor's jacket tugged loosely around her shoulders, the material still stained with his blood. It was better than leaving her exposed to the chill though, Thor thought.

For the warmth of just days ago, such a cool night was strange. But Thor had the feeling the brewing storm had more to do with him - and with the ominous frame of the S.H.I.E.L.D director stood across the car park - that it did with anything natural.

His arm tightened protectively around Maria.

"I have to." she murmured dully, resting her head against him tiredly.

"But these people killed your father."

Maria hesitated, drawing in a shaky breath. "A lot more people will die if I run away." she finally breathed. "My brother hurt a lot of people today. If I just hide and hope for the best ... the same thing will happen again with your brother, only on a bigger scale." She drew to a stop and turned into Thor, talking to his chest. "I have to try. These people can offer more protection. I might be able to help. I have to at least try."

Thor's eyes sharpened as a flash of movement caught his attention, and he watched Nick Fury stride closer, quickly closing the distance. The god gripped Mjolnir harder in his spare hand and let his amour flow into existence over his body.

He wasn't subtle in his dislike of the director.

He angled his form sideward's against Fury, defensively putting himself between the director and Maria. His hand flattened on her back possessively.

"Don't leave me." She whispered, leaving a cool patch of mist on his armoured chest.

Thor's eyes flickered, glancing past the advancing director at the distant horizon: a small slither of exposed sky had crept out of reach of his overhanging storm - growing by the second, the gathering wind starting to swirl Maria's dark locks around her head. His glittering blue eyes drank in the pale pink-orange of the sky as morning began to rise over the village. The village they wouldn't be going back to.

Thor's will set. "Never."