When you woke up again, you felt like you were fifty feet underwater. Your limbs felt heavy and your eyes didn't want to open properly.
"Y/N?"
Loki's voice broke through your consciousness. You could hear, that was good. Loki said your name again and you opened your eyes slowly; everything came flooding back. You were still in the back of the car, but now you could feel the pain you were supposed to be feeling, if dully. To you this was a welcome feeling, not being able to feel anything had been horrible.
Suddenly you remembered the reason you'd passed out in the first place. You jerked your head up to see your leg and choked in relief when you saw that the metal pole was gone; your leg was bandaged tightly but the material was stained with blood. Where had the bandages come from?
Loki helped you to sit up; his hands were shaking. You slowly turned where you were sat and took him in, he was still deathly pale and covered in blood and brick dust. He let out a shaky laugh and pulled you towards him gently, both of you wincing from your injuries as you hugged.
I'm so sorry.
You shook your head, knowing where this was going.
Don't start.
I should've realised, I could have protected you.
You did.
Not enough. You were so quick, I barely even got a scratch.
Suddenly there was a knock on the window, making you jump.
"It's okay." Loki told you, releasing his hold on you and swinging the door open. There was a SHIELD agent stood outside, but that wasn't the bit that shocked you. It was dark and cold outside; the smell and sound of the sea engulfed you.
"What time is it? How long was I... where are we?"
Your voice was quiet and hoarse.
"You're awake." the SHIELD agent said, looking at your leg through the door.
"Yes. Hello." you replied, after clearing your throat.
"This is Agent Shawcross, he drove us to a hospital and then... here." Loki told you.
"Y/N, it is half past ten, you've been asleep for just under eight hours and we are on the south west coast of England, Cornwall." the agent told you.
"Why?"
"There's a safe house here. You're both to stay isolated here until further instructions."
You looked at Loki in disbelief. He was fighting back a smile.
"Help me out?" you asked.
He climbed out of the car and allowed you to lean on him as you clambered after him, gritting your teeth at the dull ache which seemed to reside in every particle of your being. It was windy outside of the car, and the welcoming sound of the sea was loud in your ears. After having been virtually deaf you were drinking in the smallest of noises, savouring them.
You were at the end of a long row of whitewashed, extremely modern looking houses which lined the edge of a cliff, beyond which was a steep drop into the ocean far below. It was a clear night and the moonlight was reflecting off of the pitch black water to illuminate a small beach at the base of the cliffs you were currently atop of. You could taste salt as your hair blew in tendrils across your face, obscuring your vision.
"Let's get inside, quickly." the SHIELD agent said to you, walking towards the house you were parked nearest to. On ground level there was a huge driveway and double garage doors, and a marble staircase led up to the first floor of the house where the front door was located. The agent took the stairs two at a time while extracting some keys from his pocket, while Loki helped you ascend in a much slower fashion. By the time you reached the front door Agent Shawcross was already inside, turning lights on and running the taps in the kitchen, presumably checking that the water was working.
The house was immaculate, minimalistic and beautiful. The whole first floor was open plan, with a huge kitchen diner and living room; the far wall was entirely made of glass which looked out over the ocean. Spiral staircases led up and down in the centre of the space; you assumed these led to the garage below and the second floor above. The whole thing reminded you forcibly of the pictures Tony had showed you of his house in Malibu.
Thinking of Tony had been a mistake: first you were hit with a fresh bout of homesickness and then immediately starting wondering whether the team had heard news of the attack on the hotel you'd been staying in. They must have heard by now, the agent had said the attack had happened eight hours ago and you were five hours ahead because of the time difference, so it would have happened early in the morning for them. It would be late afternoon back home by now.
Y/N, they don't even know what our mission was, let alone whether we were in that hotel or not.
They knew we were going to be in London on a mission for SHIELD, and now there's been a bombing in a hotel full of SHIELD's biggest rivals in the centre of London. They're not entirely stupid.
Well...
"Do the team know we're okay?" you asked the agent, who was now digging around in a bag for something else. He looked up at you blankly.
"The Avengers. What have they heard?" Loki clarified for you.
"I'm afraid I don't know." the agent said apologetically.
You went into his mind; he was telling the truth.
"Can you find a way to let them know we're alright?"
"I can talk to Fury..."
"Fury will be denying that he or SHIELD had anything to do with this incident, he won't want to be seen contacting the Avengers almost immediately after it happened." Loki interjected.
"Please." you implored, holding his gaze.
"I... I'll see what I can do." he told you, looking at you for a second more before returning to searching around in his bag. Loki led you over to one of the sofas while you waited and sat you down, feeling your forehead as he did so.
Lokes, stop fussing. I'm fine.
At the hospital they said to make sure you didn't overheat, it could be a sign that the wound is infected.
You took his hand away from your forehead and kissed the back of it.
I'm okay.
"Right, you need to take this." Agent Shawcross was now holding out the keys he had used to get in, some sort of credit card and a phone. Loki took the items from him.
"Keys for the house, the card to get food and essentials and a phone for emergencies only. It'll put you straight through to the London HQ so make sure it really is important if you do feel the need to use it." he told you.
"Are you leaving?" you asked. You didn't know what you'd been expecting, he had no reason to hang around here any longer.
"Yes, I need to get back up to London and help cover up any sightings of the two of you."
For some reason this made you feel rather guilty.
"Thank you." you told him. "Really."
"Just doing my job." he replied, giving you both a tired smile.
"Make sure you don't leave this house without that disguise thing you do, we don't want to have even more work on our hands."
"How long will we be here for?" you asked.
The word 'indefinitely' had never sounded more glorious to you.
Loki went with him to the door, and then he was gone and it was just the two of you. Alone together, finally.
He returned to sit with you on the sofa and positioned himself behind you, making sure not to disturb your leg which you'd propped up on the coffee table in front of you. You sighed happily as he hugged you to him and buried his face in your neck.
I missed you so much.
I know. I missed you too.
You stayed like that for a long while, perfectly content to sit and ignore the growing pain in your leg, concentrating instead on the sound of Loki's heartbeat and the feel of his breath on your neck and how his hands completely covered yours when he held them. A thousand tiny diamonds sparkled and danced on the surface of the ocean; it was so soothing to watch, almost enough to distract you from your leg.
Almost.
"The doctors gave me some painkillers for you at the hospital." Loki told you, knowing full well that they wouldn't help in the slightest. He could feel your discomfort, wanted to help.
"Tell me how you got us in and out of the hospital without being recognised?" you asked through gritted teeth, needing a distraction.
"I cast illusions over us both."
You blinked in shock.
"But... how long were we in there for?"
"I don't know, I lost track. Hours." he replied, unable to keep a hint of pride from his voice.
You kept two fully believable illusions up for hours, one of them over a person who was being operated on? And you didn't get caught?
Well, mine was probably less convincing. I had to hide in a broom cupboard towards the end because it kept fading. And we did sort of get caught, we had to run for it on the way out, which was quite difficult with you fresh out of the operating theatre. I had to wipe a few Midgardian's minds too.
You were staring at Loki in disbelief.
"You are amazing."
"It was quite spectacular." he agreed, and you laughed.
"Shame I couldn't have done the same back at the hotel." he continued glumly, looking at your leg.
This isn't your fault. It's... hey, who's fault is it? Did Shawcross tell you who was behind the attack?
No, they could think of more than a few potential candidates who might have wanted to blow up a room full of Nazis though.
Shame they didn't ask SHIELD for help. Then Fury might have said 'hey, don't do that.'"
Loki chuckled and you sighed, thudding your head back against his chest and screwing your eyes shut as the pain in your leg become even more intense. It was going to be a long night.
And it was a long night, but you got through it, reminding yourself constantly that you'd rather endure this pain in Loki's company than go through one more painless night without him. The sun finally made an appearance at around half past five in the morning, and the minute cars began to start driving up and down the main road past your road and people started going about their daily business Loki took the card Agent Shawcross had given you and went to the shop on the high street down the hill. It was close enough that you were able to talk while Loki shopped, which was lucky because he hadn't the faintest idea about what to buy, or how to buy it for that matter. While you instructed him through your mind you hobbled around the kitchen inspecting the contents of the cupboards and drawers.
By the time Loki got back, having teleported up the hill rather than make the six minute walk ("what's the point?") you'd convinced yourself that your leg felt better and set about eating close to half of all the food Loki had just purchased. It hadn't occurred to you how hungry you were until you'd actually seen the food in front of you. After a ten minute break for digestion purposes you started putting all of the food away, or trying to at least.
"Will you sit down Y/N."
"I'm fine."
"You are not fine." Loki argued, grabbing your shoulders.
You tried to shrug him off but he wasn't giving in, moving his hands to your ribs where he knew you were ticklish, a smile appearing on his face. Laughing now, you tried to escape his hold by ducking beneath his arm, forgetting momentarily about your leg. This was a mistake. Your gasp of laughter turned into a gasp of pain as your leg folded beneath you; Loki seized your forearms as you made your ungainly way towards the ground.
You okay?
You groaned in response, feeling the blood drain from your face as fresh pain lanced yet again through your leg. Loki sat with you on the floor until the pain subsided, holding your hands in his, your head resting on his shoulder. The guilt that he felt would have been clear to see in his eyes even if you hadn't been able to read his mind.
It's not your fault Lokes.
Yes it is.
It's going to be a long holiday if we carry on arguing about everything like this.
Good. I'm keeping you here for as long as I can.
You smiled, tilting your head to meet his gaze. He was as thrilled to be here as you were.
"Indefinitely." you murmured happily.