Notes: This one's a bit shorter and took longer to write but we're officially hitting the end. This is the last main chapter of the story and the next one posted will be a epilogue. I love all of you who left reviews, favorited, and followed and I hope that you'll continue to read my stuff. You've all been fantastic readers.

That night was by far one of the most stressful situations Tony had ever been in.

He and a few other people, including Pepper and the rest of his closer acquaintances, drove to the hospital. His heart was pounding in his chest as Pepper took his hand and squeezed for reassurance. It gave him some comfort but it didn't completely ease his worry. While the wound itself wouldn't be fatal normally, Loki had already lost a lot of blood because of drinking and the chance that the bullet shot at such close range could have hit a major artery in that area. Tony wouldn't be able to relax until he knew for sure that Loki would be fine.

"This is my fault…" Tony muttered, head in his hands, as they sat in the waiting room. They had been sitting there for an hour and he'd said this several times already.

"Tony, it's not your fault." Pepper replied, hand resting on Tony's back and lightly dragging it in soothing circles. "It was an accident."

"Yeah but that woman was going to kill me, not him. If I hadn't dragged him with he wouldn't have gotten himself shot."

"Tony, that woman wouldn't have shot you. She didn't have an ounce of conviction. She only shot Loki because he startled her. It was an instinctual reaction on her part." Steve said from his own chair and, despite the tension, managed to still look well put together in his suit, though they'd all discarded their masks. "She'll still get charged nonetheless."

Tony looked up at him with a frown, "Why aren't you down there handling it?"

"Because I'm off duty and you are better off with me here. We all know you do stupid things when you're stressed." Steve told him matter-of-factly, blue eyes staring at him pointedly. "Besides, Fury's down there with Coulson. They'll get it taken care of."

Tony didn't look convinced but nodded slowly as Natasha appeared with Clint, both of them carrying trays with coffee. He gave her an uncomfortable smile as she handed him one of the Styrofoam cups. The stuff tasted like crap as all hospital supplied things did but he was grateful for the warmth for his hands. He wasn't sure he'd be able to handle this on his own and he was glad that the other's stuck around for support.

They all sat up as a doctor appeared in the doorway and Tony waited with baited breath for the verdict, "How is he?"

"He's doing well. We had to send him in to surgery to repair some of the damage but he'll live. You can go in and see him if you want, though it's likely he won't be fully awake for a while." The doctor replied, looking at each face with sympathy.

Tony nearly jumped out of his seat t the chance to go visit Loki and dutifully followed the doctor to the room. He was lying in the bed, hooked up to machines to monitor his health signs, and staring drowsily towards the door. They registered recognition when they spotted Tony and his lips pulled into a faint smile, "Hey."

"Hey back." Loki murmured just loud enough for Tony to hear and was clearly drugged up on painkillers. Not that Tony could blame him for that. He'd never been shot but he could tell that it wasn't the least bit pleasant. "Did everyone else come with you?"

"Yeah, they did. They're out in the waiting room. If you want I can go get them."

Loki shook his head and shifted to get comfortable, wincing as his shoulder throbbed angrily even with the numbness of drugs in his system. "No, that won't be needed. I just want to talk to you."

"Alright then, what did you want to talk about?" Tony resisted the urge to vomit out how much he'd been worried about him after that gun went off but carefully kept his words in check. He took a seat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chair set up for guests.

"I know that you're blaming yourself for what happened tonight. Stop it. It could not have been prevented." Loki took a second to catch his breath, eyes dropping with fatigue, and continued on with more strength, "If anything this was my own doing. I shouldn't have startled her. I knew she had a gun. I should have known better than to do that."

"But I'm the one who brought you there! You told me that you didn't want to go and I still pulled you along." Tony blurted, leaning forward and gripping the bed railing tightly. "I should be apologizing to you."

"And Pepper has probably told you the same thing I just did as did your friends." Loki reached his good arm over and brushed his fingers against Tony's hand. "A few individuals have told me to stop blaming myself for things that happened in the past. To let it go. I've been trying to do so, taking steps to make things right. I don't want you to think that you're at fault for my error in judgment."

Tony sighed and took Loki's hand in his, looking at the long nimble fingers with affection, "I don't deserve you, Loki."

"I could say the same to you. You've been far to kind to me. I've made so many mistakes and yet you still take the blame for them." Loki leaned back against his pillows, look up at the ceiling, "I want to tell you things, Stark. I've held things back long enough."

Tony blinked with surprise, "You mean that you're going to tell me everything?"

Loki chuckled, looking over at Tony with a soft expression, "I will. I'm sure I'll be released in a few days' time. I promise that when I am well enough, I'll sit down and answer all your questions. I don't want to make you wait but I need to…think about what I'm going to say. I hope that you understand."

"I don't want to wait but I will. You should be sleeping and healing, not chattering to me." Tony grinned and went to stand up. Before he could fully rise to leave, Loki's grip tightened.

"No, stay here. Sit with me. We don't have to talk."

"Alright, I'll stay then."

Tony waited with Loki, stroking his hair until he fell back into a drug induced sleep. Eventually he was shooed out of the room by a nurse as visiting hour ended. When he came out into the waiting room he found that only Pepper remained, "Everyone decided to give you guys' time alone and head home for the night."

"Can't really say I blame them. I'm tried as hell myself." Tony yawned and shoved a hand through his hair. "Let's go back."

Pepper agreed, watching his face closely as they left the hospital after Happy, Tony's driver, showed up to pick them up. The drive back was mostly quiet and Tony went to bed nearly as soon as they'd gotten back to the tower. She hopped that Loki recovered quickly and well for Tony's sake. She hated seeing him so miserable.

A week went by before Loki was finally allowed release from the hospital, the doctors having wanted to keep an eye on him and figure out things for his rehabilitation for that amount of time. He sighed with relief as he entered the penthouse, arm in sling and a bottle of painkillers in his good hand. It was nice to be back and able to have real food again. Loki smiled at Tony as the man hovered around him like a mother hen in case anything chose to go wrong at that very second. It wasn't very helpful and Loki walked over to the couch, sitting down carefully.

"I'll be fine, Stark. All I have to do is come in every week to have them check on the healing process and for therapy. They say there's a good possibility that I'll regain most of the use of my arm after I've mended." Loki told him, as Tony moved to sit down at his side, "You don't have to act like I'm dying anymore."

"I know but…argh." Tony flopped back against the couch, unable to continue what he was saying. Frustration was written clearly on his face and Loki patted him sympathetically. After a moment Tony managed to ask, "How are you feeling?"

"I've felt better." Loki replied truthfully, staring at his arm in the sling and wiggling his fingers. He couldn't manage much motion at this point which would make bathing interesting, though he didn't doubt that Tony would volunteer to help with that little problem. "I suppose though that we shouldn't delay this conversation we've been putting off."

So Loki took a deep breath and told him everything, about his childhood of feeling ignored by his father, Thor being the favored son, and even about why he'd left home in the first place.

"Thor was out that night and my parents had planned on going out for dinner for their anniversary. Baldur, my younger brother, was sixteen, old enough to not have a caretaker but it'd been insisted upon and I was left in charge of him, much to my irritation. I'd planned on having someone over that night and by all accounts I was a bit too old myself to be sneaking lovers into my room by this time but I didn't care. It was fairly soon after I'd become comfortable with my own sexuality and I wasn't certain on how my mother and father would feel on the matter." Loki explained, trying to hide his nervousness.

He took another deep breath. Closing his eyes as he pictured that day. It hurt to say the words, like opening old wounds that were still red and raw from healing. Still, he'd made a promise to Tony that he'd tell him the truth of his past and he intended on keeping, even if it hurt.

"So later after everyone had left I took my partner to my room and because I wasn't paying attention, Baldur snuck out. He'd just gotten his license and had been forbidden to drive without one of his in car with him. He didn't listen and decided to take it for a drive. He took a back area of our town we live in in upstate New York and ended up wrapped around a tree. The police think an animal jumped out in front of him and he panicked while trying to avoid it."

Tony sat quietly beside him, listening as Loki told him what he'd wanted to know. He didn't rush him when Loki stopped speaking for a moment and reached out to lightly take Loki's hand, giving it a squeeze. He was met with a gaze. "You don't have to keep going if you don't want to, I understand."

Loki shook his head, "No, no, it's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Loki replied simply and continued on, "My parents blamed me for his death. At least they had but they apologized. I didn't believe them at the time but I do now. When I went to visit them I learned quite a bit and I'm learning how to heal. I did not want to get close to anyone out of the fear of getting hurt, something happening again like that night. Its why I originally hesitated to get into a relations with you."

"And are you afraid of it now?"

"I…I don't think I am. At least not as much. I have my moments when I want to just end it but all in all…I'm happy with you. You've done so much good for me. Helped me in so many ways and I don't know how I'll ever repay you for it." Loki sat up on the edge of the couch as best he could with only one useful arm and reached out to caress Tony's face, letting his fingers linger, "I have a past. I told myself that I was only good for sex because that was the downfall of Baldur and so I sold my body as punishment while blaming everyone else. I don't want to hurt you. I never did."

"I know." Tony told him as Loki leaned his head against his shoulder, muffling sobs. "You shouldn't have blamed yourself, it wasn't your fault. You shouldn't have punished yourself for it."

Loki chided himself internally as Tony's words only made him cry harder and Tony wrapped his arms around him, mindful of his shoulder. They sat there in each other's embrace long enough that they lost track of time.

Another few days past by as Tony and Loki carried on with their lives as they had been. Loki was given medical leave from work so that he could take it easy and heal and Tony took it upon himself to constantly phone him to make sure he was well. The response was always the same 'yes, I'm fine' as he'd gotten every other time but it never changed the genius' mind. Loki simply hung up with a shake of his head in amusement. He'd never considered the fact that Tony might actually be the mother hen type. You learned something new all the time it seemed.

It was in that evening that he got a call from Thor and he answered it with some reluctance. Despite their attempts at healing their relationship, Loki was still wary on answering calls from his brother. As it turned out news of Loki's accident had spread like wildfire and had already reached his parents and brother. He'd already been visited by Tony's friends and Darcy and Amora (who'd grumbled that only he could end up in these situations). He wouldn't have been surprised if one of them was the reason by Thor knew. Still in the end it ended up being Frigga who demanded that he, and Tony, come to visit as soon as they could.

He'd agreed to it with all the enthusiasm of a man going to his own execution. There'd be no way of talking himself out of this one.

Tony had been just as thrilled at the prospect but he'd agreed as well, "I guess I was bound to meet them eventually anyhow. Better now than later, I guess."

Which was what brought them to arriving at the estate two days later, having taken Tony's private plane to get there sooner than driving, and as soon as the doors had opened, Loki was whisked into a hug by Thor.

"Hello, brother…" Loki muttered as Thor attempted not to hurt his shoulder and failing. Luckily Loki had taken painkillers beforehand just in case this happened. He brushed his hands over his shirt to straighten it. "Tony, you remember Thor?"

"Yeah I do." Thor stared down at him and Tony up as they assessed each other.

Then Thor's face lit up in a grin, "I'm glad to see you again. Thank you for taking care of Loki."

Did he forget that he got Loki shot? "Uh…your welcome?"

"Please, come in." Frigga appeared in the door beside Thor, "Don't make them wait outside."

"Sorry, mother." Thor murmured, moving aside.

"You must be Tony Stark. I'm glad to finally meet you." Frigga lightly kissed Tony's cheek with motherly affection after they'd come inside. "We've just had dinner made, come and eat with us. You as well, Loki, you still look too thin for your own good."

"Of course, mother."

Dinner was awkward.

Tony as he sat beside Loki and across from Thor, Frigga sitting on one end of the table and Odin at the other. There was a large traditional meal laid out in front of them, steam rising from it. The scent made his stomach rumble as the family dug in, the clinking of silverware on plates filling the silence. He piled on some of the food and before he could even take a bite of the steamed vegetables, Frigga asked, "How is your shoulder fairing, Loki?"

Loki swallowed some of his own food and answered, "Its healing well. There's a good chance it'll heal properly."

"That is good news." Odin said, drawing their attention to him. His single blue eye looked at Tony and twinkled with hidden amusement, "You never told us how you met my son, Mr. Stark."

Tony stiffened and swallowed. He was thankfully saved from having to answer as Loki beat him to the punch, "At a coffee shop. It took a while but he managed to win me over and in some ways, saved me."

Under the table, Tony squeezed Loki's leg.

Loki met his mother's eye and could tell just by the look that she knew it wasn't the whole truth. Frigga had always had an uncanny ability to read into the real truth behind things and this was no different. She gave him a small smile and when Odin went to ask for more information, she distracted him, changing the subject to something less likely to cause a fuss. The rest of the dinner went like this as the family attempted to get to know the man who'd so seemingly won their troubled son's heart.

Tony had found Frigga kind and gentle and Odin lightly standoffish but still concerned even with his rare words he'd given. Thor had spoken with enthusiasm to him, inquiring everything he could about how Loki was doing, apologizing again and again about what he'd walked into on their first meeting. Tony had come to the conclusion Thor and Loki's fight had been caused by years' worth of tension reaching his peek and forgave the blond for it, to which he received a rough clap on the shoulder and another beaming smile.

After dinner they went to the family room to have some drinks and continue their conversation. Before Tony could settle down, Frigga led him off to a quiet area to speak with him personally and alone, "I know that Loki has been in something bad, or had. I can't say thank-you enough for taking care of him and getting him back to us. I love my son and it hurt me to see him unhappy."

"I didn't really do anything…"

"But you did." Frigga corrected gently, "You made him happy, saved him from doing more harm to himself. You do things for him that we never could. Most of all, you love him. I can tell by the way you look at him that you do. Just the same as I can tell he loves you as well."

"Does he?"

"Yes, he does. He may be difficult sometimes. He's always been like that. Never doubt his love, though. He may try to hide it but he does love you. All he would ask is that you love him the same. And I know that you will."

As Tony walked back into the room and met Loki's green eyes, he knew she was right.

As it always turned out, mothers know best.