The months went by and Asta and Loki settled into a comfortable routine. Asta was never completely at ease with Loki going on missions, but she loved that it gave him a purpose he enjoyed until it was time for them to rule Asgard.

During one mission, Asta sat in the lab and waited as she tended to do. Sometimes Pepper would join her if she wasn't busy, or Morgan would sit with them too. But on this day, Morgan had preschool and Pepper was in the offices.

Asta listened to the dull clicking of her keyboard, but barely recognized what she was typing. Just some standard paperwork from a test that she helped Bruce with and was really behind on from procrastinating.

Suddenly, the tower shook and a booming sound filled her ears. Asta stood and tried to assess the situation, but before she could make it to the safe room on the lab floor, another explosion caused the wall to blast in and she was knocked unconscious by the rubble.

Asta awoke to a soothing voice.

"Asta? Asta, my love, can you hear me?" it asked.

"Hmmm?" was all she could reply as her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, thank the gods, you're awake! Tony! Banner! She's waking!"

"Stop yelling," Asta muttered, eyes snapping shut at the bright light.

"Darling, I'm so sorry," the voice whispered. "FRIDAY, dim the lights!"

The room darkened and Asta re-opened her eyes to get a look at the source of the nice voice.

"Is that better?" he asked.

Asta nodded. At least the nice voice belonged to a handsome man. "Where am I?"

"You're in the medbay, sweet one. Well, what's left of it, I'm afraid."

She tried to sit up a bit, but he stopped her. "No, you need to just stay there until Banner says you're well enough."

"Banner? Who's Banner?"

The nice voice gasped a bit. "Bruce Banner? Your friend?"

"And who are you?"

Now he gave a strangled choke. "My love, it's me. It's Loki."

"I'm very sorry. But I don't remember." Her eyes widened. "I don't even know who I am!"

Loki's eyes grew wide. "FRIDAY! Get Banner and Stark here immediately!"

"No need, we're here," Tony announced from the doorway. "Hey, kiddo. Feeling better?"

Asta gave a little sob. "No."

Tony looked to Loki. The pained look on the Asgardian's face told him something was deeply wrong.

"Loki," Tony said. "What's wrong?"

The gravity of Tony not using a stupid nickname wasn't lost on Loki, but he pressed on. "She can't remember any of us. Not even herself."

Tony froze for a moment and then spoke to the AI. "FRIDAY, start an assessment, please." Then he turned to Bruce. "Thoughts?"

"It's probably temporary from the head trauma. But we'll need to run a few tests and see what we're working with."

"Beginning a scan now, Dr. Banner," a voice from nowhere said.

Asta looked around, but didn't see another person. It only served to scare her more. Loki sat next to her and pulled her close.

"That's just FRIDAY, my darling. No need to fear," he said softly.

Asta had to admit, she enjoyed his embrace, but it still felt foreign. "There is a lot to fear! I have no idea who FRIDAY is, or who I am, or where I am, or who any of you are, or what the hell happened to me!"

Tony stepped forward. "Ok, well, let's start with the basics. You are Asta Laufeyson. I'm Tony and I'm your Dad. This here is Bruce and he's your friend and co-worker. And that guy with the vexed expression who will likely not be leaving your side is Loki. He's your husband."

"Husband? Oh, I'm so sorry!" Asta said before bursting into tears.

"Hey, hey," Loki whispered as he took her hands into his. "Everything is going to be fine. You're in a room full of geniuses and everything will be right soon. And you are so strong. You will be fine."

Asta nodded, but was still unsure of what was going on.

Bruce took a tentative step forward. "Asta, would you mind coming with me? I'll need to run some tests in a different… less blown up… part of the lab." He scratched the back of his head in an uncomfortable way as Tony sneaked out.

Asta looked up to Loki. Despite not knowing him, she did feel safe with him. He nodded and she began to stand. She wobbled a bit and Loki instantly scooped her up.

"Perhaps this would be a little easier?" he asked with a wink.

"Why do I get the feeling you've been my hero in the past?"

Loki chuckled. "We've been each other's heroes, my love."

"Will you stay with me?" she asked in a small voice.

Her worry broke Loki's heart. "There is nowhere else I would be, darling."

She smiled just a bit and looked at Bruce. "What do you need?"

"I'll be doing a few tests. Loki actually won't be able to come with you, but I promise you that he'll be right here when you get back."

Asta's eyes widened with fear. Loki pulled her closer.

"My love, I shall be waiting for you right here. Do not fret. I unquestionably trust Bruce to take excellent care of you."

"Ok," she squeaked.

Tony entered then with a wheelchair. "Your chariot, my lady!"

Asta gave a tiny giggle as Loki dramatically put her into the chair. "Don't have too much fun without me," he joked.

"I make no promises," she replied.

Loki smiled brightly at her answer. It sounded very much like something she'd say to him normally. It gave him a twinge of hope that she'd be ok.

Bruce wheeled her away and Loki sat on the bed.

"You gonna be ok?" Tony asked.

Loki gritted his teeth to not snap at his father-in-law. "I shall be fine once her memory is restored. And not a moment sooner."

Tony clapped him twice on the shoulder and left the room. It was obvious that the god of mischief wanted to be alone.

Loki sighed as he settled back on the bed. Tony didn't deserve his ire, but his frustrations couldn't be contained. He always assumed she would be safest in the tower and not on missions with the team. Now even the safety of the tower was compromised and it exasperated him.

He conjured the fourth book in the Harry Potter series and mindlessly began to read it.

Two hours later, Tony returned. "Any news on our girl?" he asked from the doorway.

Loki put the book down and stood. "None. I'm considering going to them."

"It's best to stay out of Banner's way," Tony reasoned.

Loki began to walk towards him. "It's best to keep us updated!"

"Ok, Alice Cooper, settle down!"

"Oh, you and your absurd sobriquets. And I will not settle down! This has all been an exercise in futility! Surely by now there are some results! Something to start a plan with!"

They were both in the hallway now.

"Listen, I'm worried too! That's my daughter down there!" Tony yelled back.

"And she's my wife!" Loki bellowed.

"Am I interrupting something?" Asta said as Bruce rolled her towards them.

Both men spun to see Asta's shocked face. Loki hurried to her and knelt before the chair.

Asta raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "You're… you're kneeling?"

Loki's eyes widened. "Are you remembering something?"

"I don't know. It just seems strange that you would do that. Is it strange that you would do that?"

Loki smiled. "Yes, my love. I certainly kneel for no one in any realm but you and only you."

"I guess that's good to know."

Tony stepped over then. "Well, Banner? It took you long enough."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Tony, did you want this done right? Look, I ran every test I could think of. Everything appears normal. We're just going to have to wait to see when she comes out of this."

All three glanced to Asta to see a very awkward look on her face. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Before any of them could comfort her, Morgan ran to them.

"Asta! Are you ok?" the little girl said as she jumped onto Asta's lap.

Asta's eyes shot open wide at the rush of it all.

Pepper quickly followed in, Morgan's backpack swinging behind her. "Morgan, honey! I told you, Asta isn't feeling well!"

"I can always make her feel better! Right, Asta?"

Asta looked at the hopeful little girl on her lap. She decided to play along. "Usually, but today I'm just feeling very off. I'm sorry."

Morgan put her hands on Asta's face. "That's ok. You're still the best big sister. Want me to read to you? I have 'Goodnight Moon' and 'Cat in the Hat'!"

Asta couldn't help but smile at the girl. "How about we go into the room and read both?" She looked to Pepper. "Is that ok?"

Pepper nodded, looking at the intense looks on everyone's faces. "Sounds like more fun than out here." She began to wheel her girls back into the room. "You boys play nice." And then she shut the door.

Tony turned to Banner. "So, what do we do now? We can't just put her in rice and wait for her to get better."

Bruce sighed. "It's a waiting game now. I just don't know why her healing isn't working."

Loki rolled his eyes. "And why would it, you dull creature? She doesn't remember anything about herself! She doesn't know she can do that!"

"But it's something her body should innately know how to do."

Loki growled. "Can either of you protect yourselves or access your powers or your suits if you don't know you can? Of course bloody not! We're just going to have to jog her memory in another way."

"And how exactly do you plan on that, Reindeer Games?" Tony snipped.

Loki ignored the obvious poke from Stark. "I'm going to start by proving my love to her until she remembers. Unless you'd like another security breach to cause a different wall collapse to knock her out again?"

"Oh it's not like I asked for this to happen!"

"I thought the great Tony Stark planned for every possible instance? You weren't prepared for some second rate HYDRA hack imitator with a fancy drone? FRIDAY should have alerted Asta long before something hit the building!"

"You think I don't feel bad enough about this?"

Bruce took a step forward. "It's not about who feels the most guilt!" he interrupted. "It's about helping Asta get back from this. You both love her powerfully, but this isn't going to help her at all. She'll need her husband and her dad and all of us working to help her, not fighting each other!"

Loki sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You're right, Bruce. I tend to lose my clear head when Asta is concerned. Tony, I apologize for the things I said."

He held out his hand and Tony shook it. "Yeah. Yeah, me too… Loki."

Bruce smiled. "Good. Now that we're all on the same page here. Let's work on getting Asta back."

Meanwhile, in the room…

Asta sighed as Morgan read the book to her. The little girl (her sister?) was adorable, but this wasn't exactly what Asta wanted right now. Remembering or not, she did feel a connection with Loki, which made sense considering everyone said he was her husband. She wanted him to be sitting with her.

Once Morgan finished the first book, they could hear the guys arguing outside.

"Do they do this often?" Asta asked.

Pepper sighed. "No, they really don't. You're very lucky to have a husband and a dad that get along. But they both have hot tempers, so this doesn't surprise me. They're both really worried about you, so this was bound to happen."

"There's more than everyone is telling me, isn't there?"

"Oh, sweetie. It's not that we're trying to keep anything from you, per se. But we all live a very complicated life here. It wouldn't be fair to you to slam all that information at you at once. You are incredibly tough, but it's a lot to take in. I promise, we're going to do everything we can to get your memory back as soon as possible. And until then, we'll ease you into your life here."

Pepper tucked a lock of hair behind Asta's ear and it felt very comforting. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Anytime. Now, Morgan. Ready for the encore?"

"Yep!"

Asta smiled. She apparently did have a very interesting life, one that she assumed led to her amnesia. But she also apparently had a very loving family, so she was looking forward to getting back to them. She was certain that she would do that.