Natasha stepped out of the police building half an hour later with the others in front of her, Loki as Magnus leading the way. He'd gotten the time off cleared with Ken Wallander, his higher up, and though the man wasn't thrilled that one of his team was taking two weeks off for family reasons-a death in the family, as they'd said to avoid as many questions as possible-they'd understood. Thor had played along without issue, and Nat was glad that he'd chosen to forego the armor that she'd seen him wearing in one of the articles Tony, or someone, had framed and hung up in the house, and as they stepped out Magnus reached over to touch the plaid shirt that Thor had adopted.

"This is how you choose to dress yourself?" He asked, incredulous.

"I see your fashion taste has much changed yourself, you don't get to talk about mine," Thor said, trying not to grin at the banter between them. It must've felt good, she supposed, watching as they both loosened a little, going back and forth as Loki brought his car around. It wasn't exactly the best, but who was Nat to judge? Tony gave directions to the hotel that he'd already made reservations for, and Loki promised that he and Nat would meet them there. Barton looked as if he'd insist on going with them, and for half a minute Nat almost wished he would, and simultaneously wouldn't. This whole being unsure of herself thing sucked. It was Thor that convinced him to stay behind with the rest of them.

"No harm will befall her while she is with my brother, you have my word," Thor murmured. "If he's agreed to help her it would do him no good to harm her, and it may be key to figuring out exactly what is wrong."

Barton's jaw set hard, but he nodded, his eyes flashing a warning that Loki didn't seem to care about. With a kettle-drum heart Nat sat down beside the trickster demigod, strapping herself in quickly as Tony and the others caught a cab and led the way. In the silence Nat considered turning on the radio, because even if she didn't understand the words at least it would be some noise to fill in the emptiness that hung between them, but Loki, it seemed, had other plans. He chuckled when he caught sight of her hand moving to the knob and shook his head.

"So. Natasha. What else have learned about your companions while with them?" He asked, his appearance shimmering back into that of his real form, she supposed, his green eyes seeking her out and holding her gaze for half a second. She flushed.

"Uh, I don't know that that's really going to help-."

"It's not, but you need to be comfortable with me. You need to be in order for the spell to work. It's meant to be cast by someone who knows the other person intimately, who can call back that which the person was before. Does that make sense?"

"Yes," she flushed at the word intimate, wishing that she knew how to turn that specific feature of her body off. That would be helpful. "Well, Tony's a good guy. He seems to like keeping up the persona that he doesn't care, but obviously he does enough to bring me here and help. And he's really good at Mario Kart," she muttered this last bit distastefully. He'd beaten her, the jerk, four times out of five. "Uh. He's also Iron Man? But I'm not sure you're supposed to know that so if you could-."

"Anything that gets said between us stays between us," he assured her with the quickest roll of his eyes.

She frowned. "You know if I'm boring you you didn't have to ask."

"I was hoping you'd shed some insight on how they act around you," he said, the car coming to a slow stop at a red light, his gaze following a couple of pedestrians.

"But how am I supposed to know if they're acting off if I can't remember how they acted in the first place?"

"Your mind may be out of sorts, but your body, your gut, will tell you otherwise," he assured her. "It's muscle memory to grow tense when there's someone near you you don't trust, or to flush when you are attracted to someone." Here he grinned over at her and the same blush in question reappeared, though she did her best ot meet his gaze and hold it despite her body's betrayal.

"Well, Barton's protectiveness feels off. I mean, it makes sense since I apparently can't defend myself as well as I could. They're afraid of me being attacked."

"Why?"

"Apparently I'm a spy?" She shrugged, and punched his arm when he laughed. "Hey! Not nice. You don't know me," she said with a glower.

"I'm sorry," he said, breathing deep as he grinned, turning down a busy street, the cab just a few car lengths ahead of them. "Not funny, you're right. That is a very unfortunate position to be in, especially if you give so much away."

She huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "You're telling me. Apparently I'm one of the best."

"Which explains why you're always so confused by the blushing. Your body's not used to it, and so because it keeps happening, but you don't know anything different, your body is in a constant state of confusion. Does that sound familiar?"

Oh yeah it did. She nodded, watching him, wishing she could pull him apart with words the way that he seemed to do with her. Maybe she would be able to after she got herself back, or whatever.

"What of Thor?" Loki asked, and this time his voice got quieter, more concerned though it was plain even to Natasha that he was doing his best to hide it.

What about him? What was she supposed to say when she'd just met the man that day, basically. Had it only been a day? Her exhaustion hit her like a train, a yawn spilling from her lips. "Uhh, I don't know. He said I've helped him in the past, helped send Clint to help him. He misses you from what I can tell. Tony said that hes been in a constant state of depression since you've been gone, that the reason his tower never gets any sun is because your brother is sad and moody all the time. Uh, I think he has a boyfriend?" She asked, wincing when Loki let out a harsh laugh and nearly ran them off the road in surprise.

"Really? Which one?" He asked, gleeful. "He never believed me when I told him-."

"He's not here. I've actually not met him," she murmured. "Well, not with this memory haze thing going on. Maybe he'll join us later. It'd probably put Thor in a better mood."

Loki smirked and nodded, but said little else about the subject, gloating internally instead. By the time they'd gotten to the hotel his mind was back on business, though.

"There may be a great deal of things I ask you to do that will make you uncomfortable, that was another reason I began to ask you as much as I could about the others. It will not be possible for them to be present during much of these rituals, as it is likely their energy will be fed off of rather than the spell concentrating on saving yours. The spells will require blood, in some cases, though not enough to kill you. I promise," he said. "I have no interest or need to end your life."

She murmured that she understood. This was beyond anything she could comprehend, so she supposed if he said he needed something of hers to make it work . . . well she didn't much have a choice but to believe him. Again, Thor's warning that he was a liar came back to mind.

"I need you to promise not to lie to me, then, if I'm supposed to trust you," she said, meeting his eyes. "Is it fair enough that I ask you not to lie to me if I trust you with this?"

He pursed his lips, thinking it over. "I don't have to help you, you know that."

"Is asking you to tell the truth really that big of a deal?" She asked, incredulous. Honestly?

"Yes. The truth is not a pleasant subject and I deal in lies and deceit. Mischief is my craft."

"So I've heard," she said, voice dry. "But I have to trust that you will tell me the truth. And you said yourself that you were curious enough about what I knew that had my mind wiped that you'd help me. If you don't then you'll never find out." Maybe she wasn't so rusty at this questioning thing after all. He paused, considering her, before his lips spread into a wide grin she wasn't quite sure she liked or not.

"Very well, Natasha. You have a deal. From here on I'll only tell the truth, I swear it."

She paused, watching him, trying to make him feel uncomfortable. It didn't work, because his grin grew even wider. "Fine. Ready?" She asked, rubbing her arms. It felt like he was seeing her without her clothing on every time he shot her that look. He nodded and turned the car off after parking it, the others already waiting for them outside the building. Clint, as ever, looked worried for Nat's safety, while Thor's had eyes for no one but Loki, now dressed in a pair of black slacks and a white button up with the sleeves rolled up. Nat gawked when she turned back around to catch sight of him. Well. He filled that out nicely. Tony led them all inside, suitcase of things already in hand, and checked them in as Nat took her time looking around the hotel. It was enormous, and Tony had requested an entire floor to all of them for the next two weeks? Well, it certainly beat out quite a few other choices. They filed into the elevator, Loki looking entirely at ease while Thor stiffened. He prefered to take the stairs at Stark Tower, Tony murmured to Nat after giving Thor a curious stare, though she couldn't, for the life of her, understand why. Oh well. To each their own, she guessed.

As expected the entire floor was extravagant, nothing less for Tony Stark she supposed, who grinned as he showed off the suites that he'd gotten for them all, most of which extended far past what a normal room should have, with balconies and enormous televisions and living rooms, to say nothing of the bedrooms. Nat couldn't imagine what such a huge bed would be needed for, though Tony was quick to fill her in much to her dismay, turning away before he could see how red her face got. Jerk. Loki moved on and ended up deciding on a suite where the few rooms faced the sun, and quickly went about converting the living room area to something else, something far more arcane she supposed, watching him summon what looked like stones, strange, bright colored liquids that didn't look as though they could be from this world (although for all she knew they could) as well as an assortment of other materials, chief among them that caught her attention was a bright, silver dagger with a beautifully engraved hilt that made her break out into goosebumps. This wasn't something she was so sure about, now, her mind recalling how he might need her blood, and when he asked her to come forward it was with heavy feet.

"Pick a room and then meet me back out here?" He asked, green eyes bright as they met hers. She could tell that he'd missed this, the world practically vibrating around him. "We've gotta get started immediately."

"I don't mean to whine but can it wait? I'm exhausted." She said, yawning without even meaning to, just driving her point further home. Wordlessly he surveyed her, then gave a quiet sigh.

"If you insist. Would you like to sleep with me?"

She nearly choked in surprise. "Excuse you?" She demanded. She wasn't so naive that she didn't know what that meant!

"Not in that way," Loki said with a bark of a laugh and the same broad grin as before, except this time rather than making her uncomfortable it only made her heart beat faster. Oh, no. Not good. "But contact is good for intimacy, and I said you and I need to be intimate for this to work."

Good God, what had Thor signed her up for? She murmured her assent, bobbing her head as she brought a small bag of things that Barton had packed for her into the nearest room, Loki following behind her.

"Right now?" She asked, not proud of the way her voice squeaked. Dammit, she was a full grown woman! She needed to act like it.

He just smiled and shook his head. "No. Not now. You rest and I'll wake you up when the others are getting food. Shall I?"

"Okay. And we'll start all this tomorrow?"

"Yes. Tomorrow. Now go to sleep," he said, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at how tired she'd been before and now how awake she seemed if her questions were any indication, while Nat just smiled as his back turned. Heh. She was getting her way anyway, and she reveled in the small victory while she could.

A/N: Wow, thank you all so much for the feedback on the last chapter! You guys are incredible. Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter-the next one we start getting to the good stuff =]