You Alone

The next morning, the smell of bacon and pancakes lured Tony from his workshop. Steve was cooking, and the other Avengers were all sitting at the table waiting, except Thor.

"Coffee..." Tony moaned, gravitating to the wonderful device which supplies him with coffee every morning.

Steve frowned, "You need to cut back on that stuff, Tony."

Tony tried to make an obscure hand gesture, but he was too tired to complete it and doubted that anyone understood what it meant. Ah, coffee was glorious.

After a while, Thor walked into the room, looking preoccupied.

"Yo, Point Break, how's it hanging?" Tony asked, purposefully littering his greeting with words Thor wouldn't understand. Why? He didn't really know. It was just fun. And the coffee had finally stimulated his brain to the point where he could.

But Thor wasn't playing along, and merely nodded to Tony before sinking into his chair.

Everyone noticed this, and shared glances with each other.

"How's your mom doing?" Bruce asked cautiously.

"Mother is on her way to Loki's cell as we speak," Thor replied tiredly. The whole room seemed to tense.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if Loki starts off on her like he did with Nat?" Clint asked doubtfully, subconsciously moving his hand over Natasha's on the table.

Thor hesitated. "Loki would not do that to her. Our mother needs to speak to him. She has not seen him since he fell from Bifrost, before he ever came to Midgard." Thor sighed, "She has always held a special place in Loki's heart, and he in hers. They were very close once..."

Tony choked on his coffee. Surprise and amusement hitting him suddenly.

Loki, who just tried to take over the world, who screamed insults at Natasha like a demon straight out of hell (Oh, yes. Tony had seen the footage, don't even try to tell him it wasn't terrifying). Loki, who dropped his own brother to his apparent death with a smug grin, mind-controlled Clint, stabbed Coulson, and tossed Tony himself through a window (He was still miffed about that)...

That Loki... was a momma's boy? Tony was hit with the image of Loki's (really hot) mom marching into his cell and lecturing him on "playing nice," while yanking on his ear. The image was made even funnier by the idea of Loki listening to her.

Oh, Tony was not missing that conversation.

I mean, it's his job to watch the security feed when anybody goes in the cell with Loki, so it's not like he could not not miss it, even if he wanted to, but... yeah. Still. He was all over this.

Why was everyone glaring at him? Oh, yeah, don't laugh at psycho god and his mommy. Right. Got it.

"Loki..." Was Frigga's first whispered word when she entered the cell, "Look what you have done to yourself."

Loki's head snapped around as he recognized the voice. His mouth opened, then shut, and he finally cast his eyes away from her in something that was close to (but not quite) shame.

It was at about that moment that Tony realized this wasn't going to be as funny as he'd imagined.

Said genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist was sitting a few rooms away, watching the security feed on a large monitor, and sipping on another cup of coffee.

He can stop anytime he wants. Screw you, Steve.

The image of Loki's cell was crystal clear and, for once, Tony cursed his talent for improving things. If he were still using the last model of security camera (the one SHIELD supplied, which sucked by Tony's high standards), the video would be grainy and low-quality, but he wouldn't have to see the look of sheer pain and sadness on Frigga's face right now.

As much as he'd wanted to see this confrontation earlier, now he really just wanted to walk away. This was personal... private. Even if Tony had no respect for Loki, Frigga seemed to be a good person, and she deserved to have this moment alone with her son.

Her son. And how friggin' surreal was that?

Unfortunately, no matter how much she or Tony himself wanted that, he couldn't give it to her. He had to be here, at the ready, to sound the alarm and shut Loki down if shit got real. And with Loki, shit got real real fast.

"Will you not even speak to me, my son?" Frigga was asking, gripping onto the bars that separated her and Loki. Her voice shook.

Loki turned to her, and sadness filled his eyes. The only emotions Tony had seen Loki show were rabid fury (scary) and psychotic elation (so much more scary), so this was a new one. Tony noticed just how expressive the evil god's face was. It must be the eyebrows.

The expression is gone in a second, replaced with a mask of indifference. A part deep within Tony never ever wanted to see it again-not on Loki. Because that expression was so utterly human, and damn him if he ever starts to think of Loki as human.

"You mistake me for another, woman," Loki rasped quietly. "Your son fell to his death."

Frigga shook her head, a tear falling from her eye.

Tony really wanted to leave.

"Remember him fondly," Loki advised, reaching his hand through the bars to lightly wipe the tear away, his touch barely brushing her cheek, "but do not chase phantoms in his name. They will only cause you pain."

Frigga took his hand in hers and pressed it against her cheek tenderly. No more tears fell, but she continued to shake her head in denial.

They stood like that for a moment: Frigga shaking her head wordlessly, Loki standing with hand outstretched, making a careful effort to neither lean in nor pull away from Frigga's touch, his face emotionless.

Tony could see the way the muscles in his jaw were tensed, and the tightness around his eyes. He could see the way he kneaded the fingers of his free hand into his palm rhythmically, and how his Adam's Apple bobbed violently as he swallowed. The god wasn't nearly as unreadable as he would like to believe. Now, the only question was, was he holding himself back from raging... or crying?

Finally, Frigga stilled, still clutching Loki's hand to her cheek.

Without looking up, she said quietly, but firmly, "You lie."

Loki frowned in confusion and, a few rooms over, Tony cocked his head to one side.

"You lie," Frigga repeated, raising her head to look Loki square in the eye, "because you want someone to care enough to see through the lies, and I have failed in that aspect far too many times. Never again."

Loki's eyes widened with... something. Fear? Shock? He tried to pull his hand away, but Frigga held firm.

"I will never give up on you, Loki. Even if you are not my son in blood, I have loved you as a mother since the moment Odin set you in my arms. You are far too precious to give up on. Even if you don't see that, I do, and Thor does, and even Odin, though he knows not how to show it. So long as you draw breath, my son, we shall have hope for your redemption."

She released his hand, and Loki jerked it back into his cell. He turned on his heel and paced to the other side of his cell to hide his stunned expression from his mother. He stopped at the end of the cell, close to the camera, and Tony decided he needed to repair these cameras again, because there was no way those were tears in Loki's eyes. It was just a flaw in the cameras. Had to be.

"'Precious'?" Loki whispered, "If you could see the real me, would you still say that?"

The real him? What didn't Tony know about here?

"I am seeing the real you!" Frigga insisted, "I see the real you in your eyes, and in your words, and in your actions, not in the skin you wear or the father you claim! And the real Loki isn't bad, he's just lost and confused, and he thinks that nobody loves or understands him, but he's wrong, and if he could just-"

"Leave."

Frigga started in surprise. "Loki-"

"He can't come back! He's dead! So just leave!" Loki screamed, accentuation the last word by slamming his fist against his daily plate of fruit salad. The porcelain shattered under the impact, and the food crashed to the floor. A single grape rolled between the bars and bounces against Frigga's slippered foot.

Frigga looked at him with sad eyes, silently begging him to turn around, look at her, apologize, something. He just stood there, back turned, hand bleeding sluggishly at his side.

"I will be back, Loki... I love you."

Tony definitely didn't watch the tape for a few minutes after Frigga left. He definitely didn't see the lone tear streak down Loki's cheek. And he definitely did not hear Loki whisper brokenly to the empty space, "He loved you, too. You alone."

No, definitely not.