Disclaimer: I own no part of the Marvel movie universe.

Chapter 26

Thor was already packed to return to Midgard when Heimdall sent a messenger to tell him Odin would be there soon enough for Thor to come out on the Bifrost.

He'd gone through his and Loki's clothing, looking for the things that would fit in with the humans of New York City now that Thor knew better what would blend in. He'd gone though Loki's other possessions, looking for anything familiar enough to be comforting or that might be useful for Loki to have otherwise.

Including the fluffy toy he'd found tucked away in a clear place of honor. Either Loki would reject it as childish, or he'd take it as the comfort it was meant to be.

And then there were books - nothing containing knowledge that couldn't leave Asgardian control, of course, but maybe Loki's favorite mid-level reference on the wildlife of other realms might trigger something?

And Jane will love reading it to him, he thought with a smile as he tucked it into the top of the last pack again. She loved every single bit of information she could get about other worlds.

It was a small matter to take his leave of the Three and Sif after they had helped him tote all of that down to the stables.

He would miss them, and he would worry about how Sif was doing - and told her so - but for now, his primary worries were all for his brother.

Odin arrived at almost the same moment Thor did.

Thor handed over his spear. "All went well last night and this morning," he reported. "How is Loki?"

"He remembers more of what they did to him, now. Best guess is that he felt safe with your mother and I there and his mind decided to get that over with."

"Then we know who?" Thor asked hopefully.

Odin shook his head, and his eye looked as expressionless as his eyepatch. "Nothing of use to us in finding anyone. What bits he remembered, Dr. Strange said apply to far too many potential enemies. He has sworn to keep helping, and he says Loki may begin to regain comprehension of speech soon but slowly.

"That's at least one piece of good news," Thor said. "I just wish there was more."

"Your mother will be staying a few more days." Odin smiled. "I think she's been missing having time with both of her sons at the same time."

The thought that it was currently unsafe and technically impossible for Odin to have time with them at the same time went unspoken.

Thor was anxious the entire helicopter ride to Stark Tower.

He ate in flight after he could no longer ignore his hunger, even though he was going to make it in plenty of time to eat dinner with everyone.

At least this is shorter than the trip from New Mexico, he reminded himself.

Natasha was doing her best to distract him, but it didn't work half as well as he thought she meant it to. And it really was a nice gesture that she had flown out with Odin so that she could come back with Thor.

"He really is doing better," she told him for the hundredth time. "You'll see."

Pepper walked into the living areas of the Tower and was immediately accosted by Bruce.

"I need a favor," he told her.

"Sure," she told him. Bruce didn't ask for anything often, and nothing off-the-wall or illegal when he did. "What do you need?"

He handed her a slip of paper and she quickly read down it.

And it didn't take a Tony Stark or a Natasha Romanov to know exactly what he was asking.

"Bruce, no," she told him firmly. "You don't need to do this. We trust you, and the Other Guy knows we're all allies now. You even told me when we took our trip upstate that you'd made sure he knows Loki isn't an enemy anymore."

"I need to," he told her. "It's going to take months for him to get to the point where anything else can work, he's nervous around any sign of anger in anyone anyway, and you... you weren't there. He's... He doesn't know what to make of me. That will help."

"Sure Tony can't just build you one to spec when he gets done with Loki's board?"

"... I'm trying to keep Tony from knowing until after I have it. I don't think he'll take it well."

"Bruce?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think anyone is going to take you doing this well."

He gave her an embarrassed smile. "Why do you think I want one of the new ones that look like any other watch?"

"And if it doesn't get him to calm down around you?"

"Oh, I don't expect it will. He's got plenty of reason to be afraid of the Other Guy, after all, and also to think I'd want vengeance for what happened up on the helicarrier. I don't like being treated like a timebomb," he said lightly.

She smiled. "I don't know any would who would like that."

"What I am thinking is that it would give him a clear signal of when he's getting into dangerous territory while I can still keep the Other Guy from showing up. And that, with time, could let him calm down. He needs to keep caution - you all do - but he needs to know what enough caution is."

"Bruce..."

"Pepper, it's okay. If I hadn't been trying to stay undercover when I was on the run, I would have kept one on. But the purchase pattern..."

"You don't want SHIELD to flag the purchase, do you?"

"They'll find out. Phil's going to know the same time everyone else finds out, anyway. But..." He took a deep breath. "After all those 'Hulk Is A Hero' signs and everything, I don't want the outside world to know I'm sticking a heart rate monitor on myself again. If it just looks like any other watch..."

"Then no one has to know, except friends who know Loki's the reason why," she finished.

Loki brightened when Thor entered the bedroom the brothers had been sharing, then seemed to become anxious.

There was a chirp that might have been a question.

Thor was stunned. "Did he just ask...?"

Frigga nodded contently. "He can't speak or understand words yet, but he's communicating very well for one in his condition. And it's only been three or four days he's been trying."

"... I wish I could have been here."

"Dr. Strange things you absence was a trigger of sorts for the change, Thor. Figuring out why it mattered you left forced the first memory breakthrough."

"He knows we are family, them?" he asked her in choked words.

She nodded. "And that he is adopted, and from where." A grim pause. "Your father and I think there's a chance he remembers what happened to Laufey."

Thor nodded grimly in response.

Another questioning sound, this time more tentative and more frightened.

"Thor?"

"Yes, Mother?"

"Stop making your brother uneasy and greet him properly before he decides you don't want a Jotun brother."

Thor nodded and finally drew closer. "I'm back, Loki. I may have to leave you when Father needs me or this realm needs defending, but right now my place is here with you."

Loki tilted his head.

Thor sat down beside them and hugged Loki.

He could feel how tense Loki's shoulders and back were.

"What is it?" he asked, stressing every non-verbal question cue he could.

Loki looked away. Pointed at himself, and then traced out a chevron on the back of his hand.

"What does he mean by that?"

"It's a family marking, inborn in Laufey's kin. When Loki is not shifted into an Asgardian form..."

"... he bears that marking as a Jotun."

Loki was still looking away, and now he was shaking under Thor's arm.

Thor smiled weakly, poked a finger into Loki's arm to get his attention, and then retraced the marking before giving him a firm but gentle squeeze.

Loki's eyes drifted up to Thor's.

"You are still my brother," Thor told him.

Loki relaxed against him somewhat, face leaned against his chest.

It took a moment for Thor to realize he was crying silently.

That unnerved him. He had never known Loki to have that particular skill other than for crying so light it might as well be called 'leaking tear ducts'.

This was not that, and he dreaded the thought of what might have taught him.

He kept hold of his weeping brother.

After a moment, he remembered a time when Loki was not quite ready to toddle yet.

Thor rocked him back and forth, murmuring "baby brother" over and over again in a sing-song voice.

In the memory, he had carried Loki around. But if he'd objected when they were children - and he had, loudly - he would certainly object now.

Loki stopped crying and got very, very still.

Thor stopped rocking and talking.

Loki objected loudly.

Frigga gasped, eyes wide. "Dr. Strange said he was close..."

Thor pointed between he and Loki. "Brothers."

Loki nodded excitedly.

Thor repeated it a few more times while Loki focused intently.

Then, Thor felt like trying something, just to see what would happen.

He poked Loki. "Baby."

"Thor," Frigga warned.

Thor poked him again. "Baby."

Loki looked to Frigga in confusion.

She sighed, acted out rocking an infant in her arms, and repeated, "Baby."

Loki turned back to Thor with his mouth half open and a look of being absolutely appalled on his face.

"Thor, don't taunt your brother."

Thor didn't listen. After a few more repeats, Loki grabbed his hand when Thor moved to poke him again.

Loki froze, let go of the hand, and braced himself with a look of misery on his face.

"Thor, he's been punished for eating," Frigga reminded him.

Thor pointed between them again. "Brothers." He held Loki close without any other words at all, and after a moment Loki relaxed - fully relaxed - against him.

"What did you just do?"

"I was trying to remind him that brothers annoy each other, but it's not meant in malice. And it's okay if he objects and makes me stop." He smiled down at Loki's uncharacteristically - or at least it used to be uncharacteristic - unruly black hair. "I think he understood."

"I think he did, too." She wiped away a tear, and Loki looked at her with obvious concern. He even twisted against Thor to do it.

"I wonder if we can teach him some other words now."

"Dr. Strange said it would be more a remembering word by word process than anything else," she told him.

"So it will take a while."

"Years, if he gets everything back. Which is not certain. Particularly for speech - there was at least one contributing factor he had not been able to detect before there. Dr. Strange predicts he may never speak well again."

Thor cursed.

Loki flinched.

Thor pointed between them. "Brothers." He pointed to himself. "Thor." Then at Loki. "Loki." Between them again. "Brothers."

After another repetition, Loki gave an uneasy nod.

Frigga did the same with her and Loki's names, and then added, "Mother, son," between her and Thor and then her and Loki.

Loki pointed at himself with a questioning chirp.

"Loki," Thor told him.

Frigga shook her head. "I don't think that's what he's asking." She pointed at Thor. "Son." She held her stomach. "Mother." She pointed at Loki. "Son." She mimed the Naming Day ritual that had formally adopted him. "Mother."

And then, with Loki freshly weeping in her arms with that same unnatural silence, she told Thor, "He's needed - wanted, desperately - a great deal of reassurance."

Thor nodded. "I'm glad."

Frigga gave him an appalled look.

"Before I left, he didn't have the sense to need it."

"Ms. Potts," JARVIS spoke softly as Pepper walked towards the door, "I believe some sort of congratulatory treat for Loki may be in order."

"Oh? What's happened?" she asked.

It would be easy enough to find something. She just had to pick up takeout for dinner and find Bruce's requested athletic device, and the takeout provided plenty of opportunity.

"He appears to have gotten his name back, and a few basic family words."

Pepper let out a breath and tension she hadn't realized she was holding left. Now if we can just teach him 'no' and 'danger'...

She grinned. "I think I can find a treat for him."

It really had been opportune that she was allergic to strawberries. It meant that when they'd had them on the menu one night just after Dr. Strange's first visit, she'd slipped hers to Loki after he'd helped set up the table, just so they wouldn't be there by her plate. Cue a reaction that could only mean a favored food, much as he had tried to hide it in fear.

And she knew the local grocer sold boxes of frozen juice bars. Including strawberry.

"Actually, I think I know just the thing."

Frigga rocked Loki in her arms, repeating his name and her claim of "son" over and over again into his hair at varying intervals.

Thor didn't recognize the danger until a second before Loki's whimper.

"Thor, what...?" she asked, seeing the look on his face.

Thor said nothing to her. He pointed through the "Friggason" matronymic for both of them, waited for the nod, and mimed through "Thor, Thorson". He found his hand grabbed and forced still to the accompaniment of tears as he said, "Loki."

Frigga was the one who cursed that time, and it was a long hour as they held him between them and together mourned some futures clearly no longer meant to be, if they had ever been meant to be.