It's you who are crying, it's you who are lonely
You're right, you're being human
Tears I've shed will say this
It's not a lie that it's so beautiful, even like this; thank you for our true selves
-My Song by Girls Dead Monster

Odin hefted a large chunk of rock out of the way, revealing the Asgardian hidden beneath it. Blood pooled beneath his head, but the indentation on his skull was already beginning to heal. Thor scooped up his brother, who was awkwardly lying on the ground, and moved to lean him against the wall. He carefully propped Loki up against the wall and swept his hair to the side. "Loki?"

Frigga gently placed her hand on Thor's shoulder and pulled him back slightly. "When he wakes, you should not be so close to his face as to scare him." Thor nodded and pulled back a bit. Frigga looked over to where the SHIELD agents were standing at the opening of the building and said, "He will be fine. Will you leave us for a moment?" The female nurse nodded and began herding the other SHIELD agents away. A few minutes passed before Loki's eyes fluttered open.

He blinked a few times to clear the dark cloud from his mind. The world slowly came back into focus, and Loki looked at the faces crowded around him. Thor, that was no surprise, the man was incessantly by his side. Frigga, that was right, Frigga had been down on Midgard as well. Then it clicked in his brain, if Frigga was here then that meant... The events of the past few hours ran back into his brain and he looked over towards the final person, Odin.

His eyes widened before he slid back into his carefully masked face. "Will you all stop staring at me like that? It irritates me," he said coldly, not used to the attention he was garnering.

"Loki," Loki held back a flinch at Odin's voice. "will you forgive me for what I have done?" Loki's head whipped up to stare at Odin with incredulous eyes. "I know I do not deserve your forgiveness, especially since I have done so much to hurt you. I was blinded by my own stubbornness, and I could not see what was before my very eyes. For that, I apologize with all of my heart."

Loki looked away from Odin and down towards the ground. How could he really believe that Odin had changed? He longed for Odin to be by his side once more, but now it just seemed like such an alien concept. Could Odin's apology really be or was it just another lie? His face read that he was telling the truth, but what if he had just learned his lesson from when Loki had critiqued him last.

"I shall wait for however long you want me to. I know that it will take time for you to forgive me, but I shall wait until you are ready." Odin put his hand on Loki's shoulder and squeezed it slightly. Odin noticed Loki shake slightly and looked away. He caught the gaze of Frigga and Thor and nodded his head away. The two got the message and walked away from the father and son in the building. Odin heard the soft sounds of Loki's tears. If there was anything he could give his son now, it would be the dignity of allowing him to cry in silence.

"Oh, get out of the way. Can't you see that we're trying to walk here?" An annoyed voice cut through the melancholy silence.

"Be quiet. You're going to hurt yourself, and this time, I won't help you," a female voice said.

"Aww, you'll always be there to help me, right Nat?" Clint smiled cheekily at Natasha, who was helping him to limp towards the building. His arm was around her neck, and she was balancing his weight while they moved. Clint held his other hand tightly against his chest where Thor could see some bloodstained bandages.

"Not if you keep talking, I won't. Someone else can deal with you, or better yet, everyone will just avoid you." Natasha blew a lock of hair out of her face as they finally made it to the front of the crowd. When they reached the front, she gave a sigh. "Look at them. They're all happy and lovey-dovey now. So what did we get beaten to a bloody pulp for anyways?"

"Don't complain, Nat. You're not the one that is a bloody pulp here," Clint quipped with a slightly wince as he laughed at his own joke.

"Keep quiet, you two," Tony sauntered up to the two of them. He had already gotten out of his Iron Man suit, and he looked in much better condition than his two companions. "Can't you see that they're having a family moment?" Clint and Natasha fell silent as they watched Tony run a hand through his hair. They quietly heard Tony mumble under his breath, "They're lucky that they have the chance to ever make up again."

"Excuse me. Pardon me, ma'am. I'm sorry!" Tony straightened up and turned around to see Steve and Bruce come barreling through the crowd. "Sorry that we're late. We had to make sure all the people in the damaged buildings were all right. What did we miss?" Steve looked around hurriedly before seeing Loki and Odin in the building. "Hey, are those two-?"

"Yeah," Tony replied, "They'll be fine now." He crossed his arms and gave a shrug. "Took them long enough though. I never thought that Asgardians were so finicky though. Why did all the power have to go to the beings most likely to throw a temper tantrum anyways?"

Bruce shook his head and said, "Well, I'm glad that everything seems to be all right now."

Clint gawked and said, "Are you joking? I'm the one that is hurt here! Don't say that 'everything is all right'!"

Author's Note: Next chapter is the epilogue! ^^ I'm trying to wrap everything back up, so I hope you enjoy it!