"What the hell happened?!" Bucky asked loudly, carefully assisting Lana down the hallway on their floor, her one arm slung across his shoulder, her other across Natashas.

"Who hast done it? I shall see to it that they meet their punishment!" Thor promised from behind them, raising his fist and waiting for Mjølner to arrive.

"I dunno, I thought it was a side cramp from dancing," Lana told lightly, blinking heavily as they pulled her into the living room, sitting her down on the couch.

"Thor, get Bruce," Natasha ordered, quickly placing herself in front of Lana.

"I shall do as told, then I shall find the scoundrel who is to blame!" Thor bellowed.

"Make sure he doesn't kill anyone, please," Natasha instructed Bucky, who quickly had gotten on his knees to be the same height as Lana.

"Definitely not," he replied quickly, ignoring Natasha's sharp look on him.

"I shall return shortly with the magnificent beast's manform!" Thor told before running off.

"Remind me to never go on a bender with Thor again," Lana told, laughing slightly; "I haven't the foggiest idea what he's trying to say."

"I'll get a scissor so we can get the dress off," Natasha muttered, quickly getting up. Before she could leave the room, however, she heard the sound of fabric parting where it wasn't meant to, and turned to see Lana's stomach exposed. Bucky had placed himself in front of her and ripped the dress enough for them to see the wound. At least, they thought so.

"What the hell is this?" Bucky muttered, noticing the gauze around Lana's torso.

"Oh, right! I was stabbed! I forgot that!" Lana realised, laughing in surprise.

"What the hell happened here?" Bruce panicked as he entered, his eyes quickly catching sight of the bloody bind on the laughing girl's body.

"I was stabbed," Lana told him helpfully, calming her laugh.

"Again?!" Bruce yelled in panic.

"The stitches must've reopened while she was dancing," Natasha theorised.

"Of course," Bruce realised, quickly jumping onto the theory; "Has she been drinking?"

"'Course not!" Lana replied speedily; "Wait, I actually, I think I have been drinking. Quite a bit, actually, now that I think about it."

"Oka-"

"Actually, I would like to change my answer, if I may. I am positively pissed," Lana corrected herself, nodding as she said the words.

"And her blood is thinner, and, okay, it's starting to make sense to me," Bruce stated, thinking quickly as he moved to her side; "Natasha, I need you to get me everything I need to stitch the wound up."

"I don't like getting stitches," Lana told Bucky, a sad pout appearing on her face as she watched Natasha leave the room.

"What is going on?" a voice asked. Loki pushed past his brother and Bruce when he noticed Lana's bloodied body, immediately falling to his knees next to her.

"Get. Away. From her," Bucky warned him slowly.

"Why? I am the only one who can help her, am I not?" he retorted quickly. Natasha returned from the hallway, tossing the things she'd gathered on the coffee table.

"Brother! You are a good man and kind spirit, but much too weak for such a doing," Thor disagreed, placing a hand on the shoulder of Loki, who rose in one elegant movement, turning to his brother.

"Do not dare tell me to stand back, because I will do no such thing! I will help her as is in my might, as I certainly owe her!" he insisted angrily.

"You are still weakened by Thanos, brother," Thor reminded him.

"Weakened, perchance, but lengthily and grandiloquently afar from left unfit nor ill-equipped to offer abetment of such an injury, no less one I caused! I see myself answerable for the wellbeing of the ones I have endangered, and that includes, as well as remains limited to, that very woman!" Loki told him, not bothering to explain further as he let himself drop next to Lana, who was eyeing him curiously.

"I do apologise, darling, I've been told I can have cold hands," he muttered to her before grabbing the bandage and effortlessly pulling it apart, revealing the wound as well as possible with blood still oozing from it.

"Dear heavens," he let out breathily, taking a deep breath before placing his hands on Lana's stomach, allowing the warm feeling she recognised as healing to her stomach. She watched him as a lock of dark black hair fell on his forehead, wrinkled in concentration, and as the illusion he'd had up began to fade and the bruises reappear. The side of his face was painted with a rosy colour, ultimately reaching beneath his eyes where it mixed with blue, creating a misplaced purple eyeshadow. On the opposite side of his face, his jaw was dusted with a blue-ish grey, giving him a sickly complexion Lana either hadn't noticed or he'd hidden until that point.

He broke the concentration, meeting Lana's curious eyes. His eyebrows furrowed for a second in what could either be confusion or care before he stood up.

"I have done what I can," he told the group, though his eyes remained fixated on Lana.

"You have done well brother. Thank you," Thor told, placing a gentle hand on Loki's shoulder; "You need rest. I shall assist you in finding your new quarters."

Loki looked unsure, but eventually nodded, letting Thor show him away.

"How are you feeling?" Natasha asked, kneeling next to Lana.

"Tired," she told honestly. Natasha looked questioning at Bruce, who considered for a second.

"I see no reason she can't go to bed," he admitted with a slight shrug; "It's not like it's a new injury, and Loki seems to have healed it pretty well."

"We should probably tell Steve," Natasha mentioned; "He'll want to see her before she goes to sleep, you know how he worries."

"He can wait," Bucky said decidedly.

"He is the captain, in case we need to move quickly he needs to be updated," Bruce argued logically.

"Then update him. Lana's going to bed," Bucky told, looking at Lana, who'd managed to doze off in the moments they were talking. Stepping closer to her, he carefully slid his arms beneath her knees and behind her back, lifting her from the couch. As he did so, her eyes opened slightly, and seeing she was lifted in the air, she automatically brought her hands around his neck, leaning her head on his chest and snuggling into it. Bucky sent Natasha an emotionless smile before passing her and Bruce, carrying Lana to the room they shared.

"Lana," he muttered against her forehead, closing the door with his hind.

"Doll," he tried again, Lana forcing her tired eyes open.

"You have to get to bed," he told her softly, laying her on the bed.

"No, the sheets will get blood on them," she argued tiredly, blinking heavily. Bucky smiled softly at her, removing a strand of hair that landed on her forehead.

"Then I'll change them. You just need to get your dress off, okay?" he told her, kneeling next to the bed.

"You cheeky sod," she commented, smiling in her half asleep state.

"You're covered in blood, Doll. C'mon, you just need to put on a shirt, then you can sleep," he promised her.

"I hate shirts," Lana disagreed unhappily, sitting up in spite of her feelings about the situation. Bucky widened his eyes and turned around in a sudden spin as she carelessly removed the dress and tossed it on the floor, revealing her strapless black bra and black panties. He bit his tongue, clenched his fist and did everything but slap himself to get it together. Gods sake, Lana wasn't just drunk, she was literally covered in blood, yet he couldn't ignore how his heart beat faster than before, desperately fighting to force his blood to move beyond just one section.

"Trust me, so do I," he muttered, shielding his eyes while grabbing a random shirt from the closet, tossing it to the bed. Lana muttered a thanks and Bucky counted to thirty before turning around, seeing her lying on top of the covers with one of his shirts fitted around her. Before he could stop it, a smile appeared on his lips at the sight of Lana, her hair messy and make-up ruined, lying with closed eyes.

"Bucky?" she asked softly.

"Don't worry, I'll get you your water," he promised, forcing the smile away as he left her to head to the kitchen. Entering, he met a worried Steve.

"Bruce just told me, he said that her stitches reopened, what happened?" he asked quickly, crossing his arms above his chest. Bucky ignored the question (which he had answered, himself) and grabbed a glass from the cupboard above the sink and filled it with water.

"Is she okay?" he asked instead. Bucky turned to him, glass still in hand.

"She's asleep," he told with a deep breath; "Loki healed her, Bruce said she was fine and now she's asleep."

"That's good. Talk about an eventful evening, huh?" Steve muttered unamused. Bucky smiled slightly, saying goodnight as he passed his friend and returned to his room, Lana fast asleep. He placed the water on her nightstand before pulling the covers around her, not even bothering to ignore the urge to lay down next to her, moving close to her and have a hand on her hand. He would usually hold her, pull her close, but he didn't want to risk causing her any pain or injury, so he settled for holding her hand, running a thumb over the back as his breath grew steady.

Waking up, Lana couldn't help but feel like it would have been slightly better if she hadn't, and instead just slept the day away. She rubbed her eyes before sitting up, ignoring the slight ache in her stomach. Looking around to see Bucky, she saw nothing but an empty room. On her nightstand was a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers with a note on it to take two, and she smiled slightly before doing as the bottle demanded.

Checking her phone, she noticed it was past midday, raising her eyebrows in slight surprise. Considering how tired she was, she would've assumed much earlier.

She forced herself out of bed and to the bathroom, noticing how not just her hair and makeup were a mess, but the shirt she'd borrowed from Bucky, too. A big, red plamage had spread on the stomach of it, and with a sigh she took it off, discarding it on the floor before stepping closer to the mirror, touching where the stab wound was in spite of her better judgement. The wound was covered by a protective layer of crusty scab, but not as sore as she'd feared. She stepped into the shower and allowed warm water to envelope her body, standing still before getting to work on washing her messy hair.

The shower didn't just wash the previous day from her body, but from her mind as well, and she felt much better as she brushed her teeth and hair, removed the makeup the shower hadn't managed and got dressed in a loose shirt, not wanting to provoke the uncovered wound.

She padded down the hallway and joined forces with a cup of coffee before going to the room where she rightfully had suspected the team to be, hard at work despite the previous night's endeavours.

Natasha was working, and took almost a few seconds to notice someone enter in spite of her attentive nature. She sent Lana a small smile, not offering her a word as she continued working. Tony was lying across his desk with an empty coffee cup next to him, Bruce next to him, fiddling with a pen while looking thoughtfully at his screen and Steve and Bucky sat next to each other, conversing quietly about something on the screen.

"I think I ruined your shirt," Lana told Bucky, stepping fully into the room and putting one hand in her backpocket awkwardly, the other remaining on the cup. Bucky turned around in his chair the fastest, smiling calmly at her.

"Don't worry about it," he replied, smiling slightly.

"I'll see what I can do, but I don't think I can get the blood entirely out of it," she told with a grimace.

"Blood?" Tony asked, spinning around in his chair despite originally ignoring Lana's entrance.

"Any chance I could get to take a look at it?" Bruce asked, standing up. Lana nodded before pulling her shirt up with one hand, allowing the contrastful mark on her skin to show. Bruce looked at her for approval before leaning slightly down, looking at it carefully.

"What the hell happened?" Tony exclaimed, getting up from his chair quickly.

"I was stabbed," Lana told him flatly.

"Again?!" he asked, stepping closer to her before furrowing his eyebrows; "This isn't new? It's already healing!"

"Not again, the stitches just broke last night," she told, letting her shirt fall down as Bruce pulled away.

"That did not happen last night," Tony told, pointing at her stomach.

"It looks well. If it's alright, I'd like to put a bandage on it, just so it doesn't get irritated and in case some blood leaks through," Bruce told her.

"Yeah, that's fine," she told him, sending him a quick smile before he left and turning to her father.

"It did happen last night, FYI, Loki was just sweet enough to heal it in spite of his own injuries," she told Tony, who opened his mouth before closing it again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked suddenly.

"Why?" Lana challenged, sipping tauntingly from her coffee cup in a demonstration of her lack of care; "You would've paid so I could go to the hospital and get it stitched up?"

Tony scoffed, licking his lips.

"Right, because that's all I'm good for to you. My money," he hissed at her, not thinking twice before storming off. A hint of guilt reached Lana before she forced herself to shake it off. She didn't know where that insecurity came from, but it wasn't on her. He was a grownup who took his issues out on his daughter and always had, it wasn't her responsibility.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked concerned, not standing from his chair.

"I'm alright," she told honestly, nodding slightly; "But I've actually been meaning to talk to you."

"Me?" he asked surprised.

"Yes. You are the leader of this team and a friend, so I thought it would make sense, but I can ask someone else. Hey Bucky, can I have a few days off?" Lana asked, turning her attention to Bucky, who looked at her annoyed.

"Why do you want days off?" Steve asked her, standing up; "You're alright, aren't you?"

"I am, I just have this project with a friend and it launches in a few days, and my only assignment is to watch Loki, but things have kind of changed around that situation, so I figured-"

"Take as long as you'd like," Steve interrupted her; "Despite whatever happens with Loki, he's going to be living here, you can't watch him all the time anyway. You deserve at least a bit to rest."

Not thinking twice about her actions, Lana pulled Steve into a tight hug, mumbling a thank you. As she pulled away, Bruce returned, a big, white plaster-like bandage in his hand, and he carefully let the sticky matter around the edges meet the skin around the wound.

Bucky waited for the others to return to their work before walking over to her, looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"I'm alright," she promised him. He raised his eyebrows slightly more.

"I am!" she told with a slight laugh. He nodded with a sigh.

"If you say so. Are we going to William's today?" he asked instead. Lana furrowed her eyebrows.

"You want to come?" she asked slightly surprised.

"Obviously not, and if it was up to me you were taking the day off, but I know better than trying to convince your stubborn ass. Besides, you launch in two days, Doll, I figured you pretty much needed me," he reasoned.

"I always do," she agreed, smiling slightly at him.