"I told you I would come back for you." The voice lilted through the darkened apartment, making Natasha's breath catch in her throat as she went stock still, the book in her hands falling closed. "Did you ever doubt me?"

It hardly took the blink of an eye and he was standing in front of her, head held high though his eyes were focused on her. His hands had curled into slight fists at his side, hair longer than when she'd seen it last, when she'd come to his cell in the Avengers tower to gloat and tell him that his plan wouldn't work.

When he'd pressed his lips so hard against hers she thought the bruises would never go away-.

"What are you doing here?" She growled, setting the book aside and standing, slowly. Each movement of hers was measured and she watched as he took note of it, lips tilted in a smirk. He took a step towards her and she took another measured one away, turning her body so that she wasn't cornered by the couch she'd been sitting on, so she could back up and get to the side table that held her gun in it.

"You really think a bullet will matter to me?" He asked with a laugh. "After all you've seen me do? After all you've done to me?" In the room, the few lights she'd had on flickered, as though they could feel the way the power radiated off of this man-the god in front of her, she had to remember. Had his magic grown more powerful, or more reckless?

"Shut up."

He laughed, continuing forward, and this time all but one light, the one across the room, extinguished. She swallowed hard, keeping her face as blank as she could, as he closed in on her. His face was darkened but she didn't need to see it to know what he looked like, to know the look he was giving her. One hand found her chin and cupped it, drawing her face up to his so she had no choice but to stare at him and quell the minute fear she had felt rising in her stomach. "I could've killed you then. You and I both know it, but I didn't, just as you won't kill me now."

She let out a soft hiss as his lips found her cheek, kissed the high-bone then trailed his lips over to her ear. "You missed me, Miss. Romanov. I can feel it in the way you stare at me, the tension in your body because it misses me too, doesn't it? How many men have you slept with and pretended it was me beneath you, though you could not do near as many things to them as you can me? Your dearest Barton? Your Captain?"

"Shut your mouth," she finally had the gun in her hands and had it in his mouth a second later, gagging him as effectively as the one Stark had engineered what felt like a lifetime ago. The look he gave her might have made her laugh if the situation had been any less serious, one eyebrow raised as though to question her choice of words? After all, how could he shut his mouth as she demanded when her gun currently filled it? Nonetheless he silenced himself and she withdrew it, though it stayed in her hand.

For a moment, at least. The next it was lifted from her hand and thrown across the room by a force she could neither see or feel, and the following moment his lips crashed onto hers, his hands taking her hips and picking her up so that he could sit her down at the table just beside her. She moaned and opened up for him, her hands fighting to undo the buckles that held his armor together, though it almost seemed to be undoing itself. Wait, wasn't there supposed to be another piece that had gone over his chest? In a second it didn't matter, the pair of them naked, his hands exploring the expanse of her skin as he pressed into her already wet center. If she cared to think about it she'd find that she'd been that way since she first heard his voice so close, as though she'd programmed herself to get aroused on command at the simple thought of him. It didn't help that the one time they'd fucked in the past had been the best thing she'd ever had, but she tried not to dwell on that except for when she was alone with her vibrator.

Now, having the genuine thing so close, she couldn't help but welcome him into her, gasping as he pushed all the way to the back, stretching her in the most delicious ways imaginable as her back arched. His mouth pulled from her neck, where he'd been sucking and biting at the skin, in favor of giving his full attention to her breasts, pulling one nipple into his mouth at a time to tease and torment her, making her back arch and her head spin, before he moved on to the next. All the while his hips slammed into hers, rocking the stand he'd propped her up on so that she was sure it would break any moment. Her legs locked around his waist tighter than before, drawing him closer and deeper into her and he choked on a gasp.

"Bedroom. Now," she growled.

It wasn't hardly a second later that he had her on her back beneath him, the plush comforter tossed to the side so she could grip the sheets of the bed instead with one hand, the other raking his back so hard she felt the skin burst beneath her fingertips. He simply moaned and licked her fingers when they came away bloody, tracing the skin with his tongue until she screamed and bucked as her orgasm took her over.

"I am a man of my word. That is why I am back," he said, slowing his pace as he let her come down from her orgasm, waiting until he saw her consciousness enter her eyes once more before he picked up the pace. He didn't want her to miss a second of this. "And I will always come back for you because you are mine." He growled the last word, surging forward to take her lips once more. He sucked at the bottom one until she whimpered beneath him that she needed more, needed to come again, and he pressed in harder and even faster. She thought she heard the drawers of her dresser creak, as though they were being disturbed by something, but didn't think much more of it, too caught up in his words and his complete domination and possession of her body.

They went on until the sun came up and Natasha's vocal cords felt ready to burst. She remembered his stamina being great but not that enduring. Being imprisoned as long as he had been must've played a toll By the time he finished her consciousness was blurry at best and she was sure there would be a dent from how hard he'd fucked her into the mattress that she'd have to come home to every night. At least it would be a good reminder. As she came down from her final high she watched Loki quiver above her as he pulled out and made to stand up. She blinked and he was clothed and ready to go again.

"I have an opportunity. I'm going to take it. It's allowed me to be out for some time, and so I will visit as often as I can. I don't want you to take any other lovers outside of missions."

As if he had any right to make demands of her, but in her exhausted state she couldn't find another word but: "Okay."

"Don't fear for me."

"Okay."

A pause. He turned to look at her, eyes unreadable. "But you might wish to pray for me."

Her brow furrowed, yet before she could ask him why he, a god, would need her prayers he'd gone. All that was left behind was the missing armor, a small golden plate with a serpent wrapped around it she'd seen on him the first time they'd met. A token, she supposed, to tell her she wasn't dreaming. As if her body wouldn't assure her of that the next morning.

A/N: Well, it had to be done. After that trailer I couldn't resist writing a quick one-shot. Thor came back for Jane, and so Loki-once out-came back for Nat. For a little while at least. I might write an interrogation scene between the pair of them that'll come before this, the one hinted at in the beginning, but I'm not sure yet. I have to finish everything else up before I can consider many more projects.

As ever, thanks for reading! I hope you liked it, and the title of the piece comes from the song "Like You" by Evanescence. Thanks again!