So, I left you on a cliffhanger, mean me XD
Here is the chapter that will cool your nerves ^^


Chapter 20

"Is he okay?" Loki asked with red, swollen eyes as he looked up at the doctor.

"Yes, he will be fine and he was lucky that the shooter missed important organs. He is still sleeping from the surgery, but you can see him if you want?" The doctor said with a warm smile.

Loki nodded and got up, but stumbled and fell into his brother's arms. "Brother, maybe you should sit down for a minute." Thor said with concern.

"No, I must be with him." Loki said and tried to push away from Thor.

"I'll lead you to his room." The doctor said and turned around and walked down the hall with the two brothers behind him. The soldiers had told Thor that they would see if they could find some proof of Odin being the brain behind all this. "Two of our own security guards will stand guard until the guy who shot him is in custody." The doctor informed them as they walked down the hall. And as he said, at one door in the corridor, two men stood in uniform, talking, but still had a good eye on everyone that passed the room.

The doctor opened a door to a private room and walked in with the two brothers. Loki gasped from the scene in front of him. Tony hooked up to different kinds of cords and hoses, a machine beeping in time with his heart beats and a bag with blood hang from a crock. He managed to walk up to the bed by himself and took the genius hand. "I'm here, my love." He whispered and sat down on the edge. "I'm so sorry." He whispered and stroked the genius forehead.

"When will he wake up?" Thor asked the doctor, who stood beside him and watched the broken man hold the billionaire's hand.

"In an hour or so. When he does, I would be glad if you press the button, so I can come and check on him." The doctor said and walked over to the door.

"What's your name?" Thor asked before letting the doctor leave.

"Yinsen." The doctor said with a small smile before opening the door and closing it behind him.

Thor sat down on a chair in a corner, letting his brother be alone with his lover for a bit. Loki leaned down and planted a soft kiss on his genius forehead. "I love you." He whispered before sitting up again.

They sat in silence for the hour that the genius was out, sleeping peacefully and his hand still held by Loki. Thor eventually got up and walked up to Loki, who hadn't looked away from his boyfriend once. "I'm going to get something to eat. I'll get you a sandwich." He said and walked over to the door.

"I'm not hungry." Loki stated absently, not looking away from Tony.

"I know, but better have it when you finally can eat." His brother answered and left the two alone.

Loki let out a shaky breathe as he made smooth circles on his genius hand, wanting him to know that he wasn't alone, remembering the dream Tony told him about in Malibu. He should have known. He should have expected that Odin had no limits. He beats his own sons for god's sake. Maybe even his wife.

The door opened and a crying Pepper Potts walked in and gasped at what she saw for the second time in her life. She slowly walked over to Loki and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. For the first time in almost an hour, Loki looked away from Tony and looked at the sobbing assistant. Pepper surprisingly gave the tall man a hug, a warm and comforting hug, knowing that he must be more broken then her. Loki, in the end, reciprocated the hug, but still held Tony's hand and he cried even more against her shoulder. After a few minutes Loki pulled away and looked back at Tony, he hadn't moved one bit. Pepper walked over to the sink and grabbed some napkins for them to dry away their tears. "I heard from Steve Rogers, that you expect Odin to be behind this?" She asked and gave a napkin to Loki. He nodded and dried away the tears. "I called a friend that is an agent to help Rogers and Rhodey to investigate." She then told him as she grabbed a chair and placed it on the other side of the bed and sat down. "It was worst the first time." She stated and moved one of the cords that had fallen out of place. Loki looked up at her confusedly. "The last time he had that big car battery attached to him." She said and sighed as she leaned back in the chair. "This time Dr. Yinsen knew that he would be fine." She said more to comfort herself than the man holding her friend's hand. Loki didn't say anything, he just watched his boyfriend sleep slowly. "I think he would feel better if he heard your voice." Pepper stated with a calm voice. Loki looked at her, not knowing what to say.

"But what if he is tired of our relationship?" Loki whispered mostly to himself.

"Nonsense." Pepper said with a stern voice. "He loves you very much and he would take that bullet for you any day." She continued and narrowed her eyes to him. "Wouldn't you?" She asked him.

"Of course I would." Loki almost hissed.

"Good." The woman said and the smile was back. But then the smile faded away when he thought about Loki taking a bullet for her friend. "It's weird though." She started and got Loki's attention. "It would probably be worse for the one that gets to live, to know that the other, the one you loved, has taken a bullet for you and gets to live the rest of their life in sorrow and regret." She said with a sad smile. She knew that Tony would drink himself to death if Loki died, especially if he died protecting him. She didn't know what would happen to Loki, but knew it wouldn't be a pretty picture.

The door opened and Thor was back in the room with two sandwiches and two cups of coffee. "Oh, Mrs. Potts. If I knew you were coming, I would have bought something for you as well." Thor said sadly as he placed everything on a table.

"She can have mine." Loki stated and sighed.

Thor sighed and gave Pepper the sandwich, knowing that his brother won't eat until the genius had woken up. They sat in silence. Pepper and Thor watching Loki look at his boyfriend with hope in his eyes. It had gone an hour now and he was supposed to wake up.

Loki leaned forward and rested his forehead on the billionaire's. "Please, wake up. I need you to wake up." He whispered, a tear sliding down his cheek and landing on Tony's jaw. The genius started to stir a bit and make whimpers. "Sh, love. I'm here and you are safe." Loki said and pulled away a bit so he could stroke his forehead again.

Tony finally opened his eyes a bit, blinded by the light in the ceiling for a bit. "Loki." His voice was hoarse and it sounded like he was in pain. Thor got up and pressed the alarm button, like he was told to do by the doctor.

"Sh, love. Don't talk." Loki said calmly with a small smile on his face.

The hand Loki was holding reciprocated the grip weakly, but it was something. "Kiss me." Tony managed to say with a small smirk. Loki leaned down and softly placed his lips on Tony's and kissed him gently. "I love you." The genius whispered when they parted.

Loki started to cry again, mostly happiness but also for feeling the fear go away. "You could have died." Loki said between sobs.

Tony squeezed his hand, wishing he could move his other hand to dry the tears away from Loki's perfect face, but he couldn't find the strength. "But I didn't. I'm still here." He managed to say before the door opened and the doctor was back.

"I must ask you to step away, Mr. Odinson." Dr. Yinsen said calmly and a warm smile on his face.

Loki reluctantly let go of Tony's hand and stepped away from the bed to give the doctor room to work. He didn't know why, but he walked over to a corner in the room and just stood there, leaning on the wall for support. Thor walked over to him and gave him his coffee mug. "You need something." He said and forced it into his healthy hand.

Yinsen gave the genius a smirk. "I told you that I didn't want to see you here again." He stated with sarcastically and looked at the stitches on Tony's abdomen.

"What can I say? I'm apparently good at pissing people off." Tony responded with equal sarcasm.

"At least it wasn't as bad as last time." Yinsen said and checked Tony's reflexes. "You were lucky and everything seems to be okay. I'll give you some painkillers that will help and I suggest you sleep. You'll be staying here for at least two days." Yinsen stated and wrote something on the board that had hanged on Tony's bed.

"Oh, come on. It's so boring here." Tony said and rolled his eyes.

"I'll have something for you to do while you're here." Pepper said with a smirk.

"I don't think I should work while I'm resting, right doctor?" Tony tried and looked at Yinsen with puppy eyes.

"I don't think we can fool your CEO twice." He answered with a smirk.

Pepper chuckled and stood up from the chair. "No, you can't. Well, I better head back to work. I'll be back tomorrow with stuff for you to do." She said and grabbed her purse that had been by the chair. She gave the man on the bed a kiss on the cheek and a nod to the two brothers in the corner and then left the room.

"Visiting hours is over soon, just so you know." Yinsen pointed out and hanged the clip board back on the bed.

Loki looked up at him with wide eyes, some hint of fear. "Please, doctor. Let me stay with him." He pleaded and didn't notice that he had started to shake.

"He will be safe here, I promise you." Yinsen said calmly, finding Loki's state a little nerving. "Maybe you should sit down and eat something?" He asked and took the cup of coffee away from the man, who was extremely pale again.

"I think he is having another panic attack." Thor said worriedly and tried to hold his brother up.

"Loki." Tony said a bit raspy and tried to sit up to see his lover.

"Oh, no! Lie still or the stitches might break." Yinsen said and pushed the genius down again.

"But, Loki." Tony tried, but was stopped by a hand in front of his face. The doctor looked at the two brothers. The bigger one holding the shaking up the best he could. He made a motion for the big man to bring Loki over to the genius. Thor moved Loki so he sat on the bed and Tony could take his hand. The doctor made the head of the bed move up a bit so Tony was almost sitting up. "Loki… Look at me, babe." Tony said calmly and massaged the hand he was holding the best he could. Loki managed to look into warm, brown eyes and instantly felt his breathing become easier.

"I don't want to leave you here." Loki said between breaths.

The doctor behind him sighed. "I could have an extra bed moved in here that you can sleep on." He said calmly.

"It's for the best. I can't sleep without him anyway." Tony said and looked into glassy, emerald eyes.

"I'll go back to the tower and see if I can call mother." Thor said and placed a hand on Loki's shoulder.

"I fixed a new phone for you that should be brought to your flat." Tony said with a smirk. Thor smiled brightly and left the couple alone with the doctor.

A nurse came in with an extra bed and removed some of the cords and hoses, so he was more able to move. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Tony managed to move a little to give more room for Loki to lie down next to him, careful not to touch the stitches. "Do you think it was Odin who ordered the hit?" Tony asked as he made equations on Loki's back.

Loki nuzzled his nose into the crock of his genius neck. "Probably… I'm sorry. I should have known he would do something like this." Loki said with a shaky breath. It had been so close for him to lose pretty much everything he cared for and loved.

"Sh, you couldn't predict it more than I could. It happened and we were lucky that the shooter sucked." Tony said and moved his head to rest closer to Loki's. "Just be happy that we are both fine and don't think about what could have happened." He then said calmly and planted a kiss on Loki's head. He felt the pain killers were kicking in and sleep should come fairly quickly. "Let's sleep, babe." He mumbled and his hand stopped making equation and just lay on Loki's side.

Loki lay there, not being able to fall asleep just yet because of the leftover adrenaline. But it surely was better than being forced home and to sleep alone in their bed. He had to do something. He had enough. Odin had crossed the line and now he is going to lose everything. Loki will make sure of that.