"(Y/N)," he rushed towards you, eyes wide in both excitement and perhaps terror, "why have you not returned home? Do you realize how I've struggled to find you? I cannot manipulate time as easily as you."

You looked around quickly, checking the scene to be sure that no one was paying either of you any attention, and found fast relief that things appeared clear. You allowed Loki to approach you; you wouldn't give him the satisfaction of making any further move, as to not give him an idea that you wanted to actually get any closer to him. "I thought I made it very clear that I was leaving for good. I explicitly told you not to look for me, so why are you here?"

"I wasn't looking, at least not at first," he began, "but then something in the universe shifted. In a way that I've never felt before. Something must have opened a window for me to connect, but I sensed that you were here, in this time, so I've worked with unyielding diligence to find you."

"Well, if nothing else, it's smart that you're disguised. I have no idea how I'd begin to explain this to the team."

"The team?"

"The Avengers."

"Oh, dear lord, tell me that you're not one of them?"

"If I did, that would be a lie, and I thought I let that family trait go when I walked away from you," you snapped. "Go home, Father. I don't want you here."

Loki took a step back, as if your words physically pushed him further away from you in his agony. He looked fully shocked and you had no idea why, because the man you left behind in his timeline certainly shouldn't have cared so much that you had run. There was no love lost there, and it was in no way a secret to anyone in that previous life that you had nearly forgotten until this moment.

"(Y/N), please, let me explain-"

"No!" you hissed through clenched teeth, stepping up to him with eyes filled with fire and pain alike. "You've had enough chances to explain! I haven't returned home because of you. I found a better version of you here, in this timeline. I found a version of you who actually cared about me, and I loved him. A man who died a hero, protecting Asgard and wearing the name Odinson, standing alongside his brother with pride for the first time. I promised him that I would never go back to find you. He renounced that person and wanted me to know him as I did here. That man was my father. Not you."

"B-but we...we are the same?"

"Oh, believe me, you're not. So please, for both of us...go home."

~~~

Loki had wandered around a nearby town for hours, aimlessly and lost in thought, determined to show you that he wasn't the person that you thought he was. He had been present in this timeline for quite a while now, living a life that he was never meant to have before that Tesseract slid into his foot at Stark Tower to allow his escape. He could feel that this existence was wrong and out of alignment from his true path, but there was nothing that he could do about that now. You had been born in his time and belonged nowhere near this one; it was that birth in a branch reality that had given you the ability to slide through time and he could only imagine the life that allowed you. He wanted to share it with you and to help alleviate your fears of the things you might see, but clearly, the days of him being a mentor and guide to you were over. He had created an impossible rift to traverse between you.

Once he had found you at the compound, taking on the identity of a SHIELD agent seemed the most logical choice, but what he couldn't understand is how you saw through the illusion. You had never been able to do that before and it left him uneasy. You weren't the child that he had known for so many years, and it was obvious that his influence on you was fading fast.

Loki had been lost in thought so sufficiently that he nearly missed his call to return to the compound to continue the work he had assumed as a part of his disguise. He still wanted to follow through on his plan, even if it were beginning to fall apart just a bit. He drove the few miles back to the building, coasting the truck slowly as if it could offer any kind of protection from you should you catch sight of him again. His breathing quickened, uncharacteristically panicked for him, and it left him uncertain about his entire plan.

He nearly turned the vehicle around when he stopped at the sight before him; flashing and blinding red and blue lights glowing into the evening sky. In the distance he could see one paramedic was putting who he believed to be Sam into one ambulance, and he feared that he saw you going into the other. Loki hurried forward, slamming the truck to a halt and rushing to get to you as he dropped his illusion in a choice to never speak to you with anything but complete truth ever again.

"(Y/N)!"

"Sir, please, stay back," the medic tried, to no avail and only getting pushed aside.

"She is my daughter and I have every right to be here. (Y/N), darling, I'm here," he moved forward, stepping up into the rig to sit at your side. You appeared to be asleep, which he preferred to the thought of unconscious, but the stillness unnerved him nonetheless. "Someone tell me what happened here."

"Loki?" a new voice answered, though it wasn't the response he was looking for. Wanda was approaching now, her appearance as disheveled and broken as yours, but she had the good fortune of being awake and able to interact. "Loki, we thought...Thor told us..."

"I have no time to explain the details," he huffed, "but please tell me what happened. I can give you more later but (Y/N) is my only concern and I can wait no longer. She..." he paused, taking a deep and shaking breath, "she is all that I have now, even if she refuses me."

"Tell me first, who is she to you?" Wanda pressed. "She's my friend and I can't break her trust."

"If you absolutely must know, she is my only child, and I prefer that you tell me straight away when you know that I have methods to get the information I need. Please, I do not wish to resort to those measures. Tell me."

Wanda's expression shifted with his revelation and again with his vague mention of threat, but ultimately, she would concede as she felt the genuine and urgent concern that she couldn't deny. She was worried about you as well, but if Loki was telling the truth, you would need him much more than her friendship alone. "She was helping Sam to recalibrate one of the engines on the quinjet and there was an explosion, that's all I know."

"Will she be alright?" he asked the medic as he continued to work. "I insist that I stay with her."

"Fine by me," the man answered, "but we need to roll. Ma'am, you can ride with the other patient if you want to, or you can meet us there."

"I'll meet you there, Bucky is with Sam." Wanda gave a final look to Loki with a nod that tried to convey her belief but also to let him know that the conversation between them was far from over. "I will see you there shortly. Once she is stable, we'll talk more."

"Agreed."

~~~

Several hours later, Loki was keeping his promise and had yet to move at all from your side. He had followed you to each test and kept the smallest amount of distance allowed from you during surgery and was diligently seated next to your bed as you now slept. The hospital lacked both interesting reading material and nourishment that appealed to him, despite Wanda's continued offer to get him anything that he could possibly need. She hadn't pushed him yet to talk more but he knew that the conversation was unavoidable; he had given a great deal of thought to what he might say, and how he could explain the situation that brought him to you now, but his worry for you muddled his mind and he hadn't made much for progress.

"There are not many people who can sneak up on me."

"(Y/N)?" he perked up at the raspy, quiet sound of your voice. "I didn't mean to. However, there was no sneaking involved. You've been asleep for hours and I've been waiting for you to wake in plain sight."

"What happened? I was with Sam in the hangar..." you stopped, the dryness in your throat cutting your voice short. Loki stood and hurried to grab your cup of water, holding it steady to help you drink. His hand was steady, but his eyes searched your expression nervously for any sign of pain that he feared seeing. "Thank you, that's better. I was with Sam...Sam..." you faded out as your mind tried to catch up beyond the haze of medications. "Sam! Oh my god, is he okay? He was closer to the jet than I was-"

"Yes, darling, he woke about an hour ago," he tried to reassure, "and he's doing well, as are you. The hope is that you will both be sent home in the morning."

Pushing yourself up slowly to rest your weight back on your elbows, albeit shakily, you sat for a moment and just looked at the man, trying to read the most unreadable person you had ever known. He looked different somehow, his expression soft and truly concerned in a way you hadn't seen from him before. This was reminiscent of the Loki you had known as the father you had the fortune to choose for yourself, and you began to wonder if you could guide this man to the same place. Maybe he wasn't too far gone, and this was the opportunity that couldn't be ignored. Normally, accidents were unwelcome and destructive, but maybe this time it was for a reason, and the universe was giving you an unavoidable message.

"Will you come with us?"

"To...to the compound?" he stammered slightly. "You want me to be there? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. You've been here for me when I know what a risk it is for you to be without your illusion. I think I owe you the time to talk, at the least."

"(Y/N), you owe me nothing. Where else in the universe could I be other than right here? I've found you after all this time, and I want to prove to you that I have no intention of losing you again. I want to be the version of me that proves my love for you which has not changed. I want to be the father you deserve."

Part 3 (In process)