The beeping of Taylor's alarm echoed through the room that she had been given in Tony's mansion; this was its third attempt to wake the sleeping beauty. Taylor whined, slapped the off button with a huff, and let her hand drop onto the nightstand. She had expected her skin to meet with the usual ice cold glass, but instead she heard the crinkle of paper as her hand dropped down. Her ocean blue eyes popped open as her fingers curled around the small slip of paper on the stand. She had assumed it to be a note from Tony about something stupid, but was utterly shocked to find a folded piece of drawing paper. The blonde swallowed hard and sat up, her heartbeat resounding in her ears. She turned the square of paper over in her hands as she looked down at it, studying it. The paper had small droplets of blood, rips, wrinkles, and even a few small holes.

"Ok, Taylor… you're just dreaming. Yep. Dreaming." Taylor mumbled these words to herself as she glanced around the room to make sure no one was inside of it with her, then back down at the yellowed and torn paper. She let out a sow breathe and started to carefully unfold it, her eyes widening and heart nearly skipping a beat as she did. In her hands was a drawing that she made for Loki when the first met; a drawing of the stables. She knew that the god had kept this drawing with him at all times, even when he slept. "He must've had it with him when he—" she bit her tongue as tears began to fill her eyes. Maybe Thor had found it and somehow returned it to her? Taylor shook her head and folded the drawing back up, then slid it beneath her pillow. She would keep it there until she managed to find out how it had gotten on her nightstand.

Meanwhile, Thanos had permitted Loki to watch certain places on Midgard to make finding the Tesseract easier. The method had proved quite useful, until Loki found Taylor. He had been watching her since he left the drawing, in hopes that she would smile at least once. The god watched the blonde unfold the paper, but frowned when it only seemed to bring her sadness. He huffed in frustration when, much to his dislike, Taylor folded the drawing back up and placed it beneath her pillow. The god's eyes narrowed and he flicked the illusion away, leaving himself to his own thoughts.

Taylor had padded into the kitchen after a quick shower and poured herself a glass of orange juice. It was fairly late in the afternoon, but she still felt like it was morning. Tony and Pepper were having a snack outside by the pool when Pepper spotted Taylor in the kitchen. She waved like mad until the blonde finally inched out of the glass doors and flopped into a chair with her glass of juice.

"Hey! Sleeping Beauty awakened!"

"Tony, that's rude," Pepper narrowed her eyes at the mechanic, who kissed her nose to make her giggle instead.

"Ok, sorry, Tay. But really, I thought I was gonna have to have JARVIS blast music until you finally woke up."

Taylor rolled her eyes at the happy couple, turning her tired eyes to the pool she had fallen in the day before. She still wasn't entirely sure if Loki had pulled her out or if she had imagined the whole thing.

"Whatever…" the blonde mumbled and sipped her orange juice, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I wouldn't have cared."

Tony shrugged off his sister's odd behavior, turning to feed Pepper a grape.

Taylor shook her head in disgust and got up, returned to her room, and slammed the door behind her. No one had noticed her leave, so she would be free to do whatever she wanted for a while.

"Well," she sighed, "now I'm depressed. And alone. Freaking wonderful." The blonde huffed and drank down the last of her juice, before flopping onto the bed. She laid there a while, staring up the ceiling fan blades. The blonde had allowed her mind to drift off, and so she found herself thinking about the drawing under her pillow. Without moving, Taylor's hand delved under the pillow and pulled out the drawing, holding it above her face as she unfolded it. She studied the drawing a long while, her brows furrowed in thought. She only had one question: how had it gotten on her nightstand, and who put it there?

Back in space, Loki had grown extremely tired of watching SHIELD agents converse about the events that had transpired in New Mexico, and flipped the illusion back to Taylor. His dry lips pulled into a small smile when he saw her with the drawing, but it quickly faded when she balled it up and threw across the room.

"What… what are you doing?!" He whispered to himself as he watched, shocked, as Taylor stood and left her room again.

Taylor couldn't take staring at the drawing anymore, and had thrown it across the room. She'd planned to go back and pick it up, but a small growl from her stomach drew her attention elsewhere. She hadn't eaten since the day before, and she was hungry. So, the blonde stood and trotted off the kitchen for food, completely forgetting the balled up drawing beside the trashcan.

Once Loki was sure that Taylor was gone, and that the Chitauri weren't watching him, he cloned himself and teleported down to Taylor's room; the clone would take his place incase Thanos, or the soldiers, came back to check on his progress. As soon as the light around him cleared, he went over to the wall and picked up the remains of the drawing. A frown painted itself over his lips as he un-balled the tattered remains of the drawing it was mostly destroyed.

"Taylor… what's wrong with you?" He shook his head and slowly waved his hand over the paper, restoring it to its previous condition. Footsteps then began to draw close to the room the god was in and he panicked. He couldn't take the drawing with him back to the Chitauri island, and he couldn't stay, so Loki Laufeyson did the only thing he could possibly think of: run. But not before leaving the drawing on his princess' bed, along with a small, hidden message.

The footsteps Loki had heard belonged to Pepper, who was on her way to her room to grab her jacket and shoes. Tony had promised to take her out for dinner, and it was getting dark, so she figured she would need the jacket.

"We'll be gone awhile, sis. Think you can manage NOT falling into the pool while we're gone?" Tony asked, a smirk on his face.

"I'm not going back outside, so yeah." Taylor nodded, munching a piece of candy she had found in the refrigerator.

"Ok, blondie. If you say so…"

Taylor's ocean orbs watches as Tony left the room, then darted towards the TV in the nearby room. Maybe it would help, she thought. She padded over and plopped on the couch with a sigh, running her hand through her flaxen trusses. She flipped on the TV and curled up on the couch with a blanket; she had been so cold since she left Asgard. The TV was less than interesting; its only choice of viewing being news; and Taylor soon fell asleep. She slept peacefully for the first few hours without interruption. But sure enough, the nightmares started again. The small female tossed and turned on the couch as thousands of images flitted through her tired mind, all of her mother the day she died. Taylor was fifteen when she witnessed her mother's death, and the memory still caused her to break down into sobs. The young blonde's mother had been sick for nearly two years and Taylor had quit school to help pay for her mother's medical bills, but it wasn't near enough, and eventually their small home was repossessed. After that, Taylor went to live with her aunt and her mother was moved into a hospital. Taylor visited her mother every day, and soon learned that she was in fact the sister of the famous Tony Stark. Merely a few days later, her mother died. Taylor was of course there and promised that no matter what she would always remember their happy times together, no matter how few there were.

These were the things that plagued that young woman's dreams night after night. Even on Asgard she had woken up numerous times in the night with Loki watching over her and ready to comfort her. She missed having him there to comfort her.

How long Taylor slept was unknown, but she finally rolled off of the couch and onto the tiled floor with an anguished cry. Tears poured freely again, but this time they weren't for Loki. Not all of them.

"Why did you leave me…" She choked out, clutching the key shaped pendant around her neck. Her sobs ceased after a while and she sat just staring a distant wall. She just didn't know what to do. She had lost her mother and Loki; the only two people she really cared about. Sure Tony had taken her in, but he didn't really care. He was hardly ever there for her, hardy ever listened. He had only taken her in because she had begged him to do so.

"I'm sorry, Mom… I just… I miss you. A lot." She sighed and stood up, angrily wiping at the tears in her eyes and straightening her clothes out. Right then and there, Taylor had decided that she had done enough sulking, and trudged back to her room. That drawing had gotten there somehow, and she intended to find out how, and who, had returned it to her.

The door to her bedroom swung open and slammed against the wall, a loud clang resonating through the room. The determined blonde walked in and went straight for the trashcan, freezing once she got there. The drawing was gone. Was this not where it landed when she threw it away?

"What the…" Taylor's brows furrowed as she knelt in the floor, moving the trashcan around as she searched for the drawing, but not finding it. She flopped onto her rear on the floor and huffed in frustration. "This is just… this is ridiculous. It HAS to be here SOMEWHERE!" She shook her head and stood up only to flop face first on her bed. The sudden rush of air caused by her actions made the drawing on the nightstand to lift up slightly, travel a few inches through the air, and conveniently land beside her on her pillow, brushing her soft curls on its way down. Lifting her head, Taylor saw the seemingly perfect slip of paper and gaped, grabbing it and sitting up all in one movement.

"HOLY CRAP!" She exclaimed loudly as she pushed stray curls behind her ears. "It.. it's perfect!" A grin crept across her face as she gingerly ran her fingers over the page; it was really there. She opened her mouth to ask JARVIS if Tony had found it but immediately closed it again as the paper began glowing where she had touched it. "Whoa. I haven't seen that since… Loki…" Her thin brows furrowed again; it just wasn't possible… was it? Determined to find out what was beneath the drawing, the young blonde held the page gingerly in both hands and blew on it. Whatever incantation was on the paper seemed to react to her touch, so why not her breath? She waited, and sure enough, glimmering words began to appear over the drawing. Immediately she recognized Loki's handwriting and screamed, dropping the paper and scooting against the wall. Had he done this before…? Taylor stared at the paper for a while, before finally crawling back over and looking down at the words.

"Dear Taylor…"