Chapter Forty-Six

                                    

                                          
(A/N: Yes I know this needs more editting. But I'm updating now. Enjoy! Thanks for reading! 47 should be up by the end of the week too!)
(Loki's Pov)
"Loki." A voice questioned, waking the prince. "Get up, we need to talk."
Loki peeked open his eyes, finding quite the exhausted Natasha staring down at him. Glancing occasionally to the kitten pressed up against his side as close as humanly possible. Her skin was flushed and warm to the touch, even though in Loki's eyes her beauty put goddesses to shame. "What?" His lips barely mouthed the words, not daring to wake his love. As last night flooded back to his memory. "Did you find them? What did he want-"
"The others will fill you in." Natasha sighed, her patience already  worn thin as it is. The bags under her eyes betrayed how little she had slept. "I'm going to take Kit to her room." Even though her words left no room for argument, her tone almost sounded hesitant. As if such a thing would set him off.
And sure, maybe for a second Loki wanted to argue that the kitten was perfectly safe in his care. That nothing had gone wrong, and he kept his word from last night. For all the few seconds before reason kicked back in, and Loki realised that Natasha already knew what must have happened. It was the only reason he wasn't dead yet.
"They're waiting for you in the cells." Natasha said, as Loki came to realise what had happened. The Avengers didn't kill the attackers, of course not, but that doesn't mean they would get away after such an attempt. The ones responsible were being held in the tower, instead of Shield or any other prison meant for the criminals after normal missions. 
Loki rose from the couch, bidding his goodbyes. Leaving the care of Kit to the warrior woman. It was for the best. 
*
(Kit's Pov)
Her pillow moved, sliding out of her arms and away from whatever had become her bed. It didn't feel like the one in her room, but to a still half-asleep mind in the throes of her heat, Kit didn't find the will to care. A bed was a bed.
It wasn't until moments later that a hand shook her side, a tired but kind voice urging her to wake up. "Kit, just wake up enough to stumble to your room. Then you can go right back to bed." 
Back to bed? Great idea. But Natasha was persistent, and the kitten managed to peek an eye open. Her body fumed with the worst heat she's ever felt, sagging against every aspect of her body. It created a need to writhe in anticipation, a feeling she's never even imagined to experience. 
But when she woke, everything that had worked to keep Kit asleep now worked against her. The couch's once comfortable surface rubbed roughly against her skin, as the temperature of the room felt too warm even for her body. Her hair stuck out in all the wrong places, the clothes from last night now drenched in her smells.
But worst of all? Where in the world her pillow had gone. Strong and cold and perfectly shaped to cradle the kitten.
"Don't want to move." Kit murmured, burrowing her face into the subpar couch pillows. She would be uncomfortable anywhere right now. And standing sounded much worse than lying here doing nothing.
"Kit, please. I'm tired just like you right now. Once you're safe, you don't have to do anything more." Natasha rolled her to lean against the back of the couch, pulling her arms to force the kitten to stand. "Come on, Котя."
She really, really didn't want to move. But knowing that staying in her room would be safer, and after a bribe of clean and scent-free pajamas, Kit agreed to walk back up to her room.
Even though there would be no Loki there.
The kitten quickly buried any such thoughts throughout the day, and later into the evening. Natasha stopped by briefly, before passing out in her own room. Promising to come back and check on her from time to time. But Kit slept or ignored such visits, too caught up in her thoughts to focus. 
How did her heat start so early? She knew the answer to why, of course. The cologne that triggered her. But how did her attempted kidnapper know that specific scent would incite her heat? Even Kit didn't know such things were possible. It happened according to her bodily clock, not some magic 'when you smell this' trick.
It didn't make sense how he knew. She wondered if the 'friends' that her attacker mentioned might have been more at fault, but even then she couldn't guess how they would figure it out. To her knowledge, even Hydra never developed anything of the sort. 
But then again, when Kit was held there, she never knew what exactly their experiments accomplished. Maybe there were other triggers she didn't know about.
And... Loki.
She should have known better than to be so forward. Her actions from the night before haunted her thoughts, filled with what ifs. What if he hadn't stopped her? What if this changes things? What if he was appalled by her actions, by her influence upon him? What if, what if, what if.
Kit stared at her ceiling, sometime in the late evening. Natasha already brought by lunch some time ago, not that the kitten even thought about touching the meal. Her body still burned as earlier, the only semi-comfortable position being to lay on her back with limbs spread apart. It reminded her of a starfish.
Her mind had been wandering from topic to topic, but at the mention of Loki it froze. What if this changed everything? They had never talked about furthering the relationship... at least not yet. But she supposed such a conversation was inevitable now. Before, it had all felt so natural. Walking in the right direction, each step settling into place perfectly.
Now, she couldn't even see the ground. What if he didn't want to keep going?
But Loki said he did. He wanted to 'explore this more with clear minds.' Kit agreed then, and still agrees now, even if patience was a sparse commodity. She agreed, yes, but she wanted to explore now. Not in some days' time.
The kitten fiddled with the necklace resting on her collarbone. She wouldn't give up all thoughts of him, even if it was for the best to avoid Loki during her heat. They shouldn't force something they're not ready for.
But she was. With or without her heat, she liked the idea of a more intimate relationship. She would fear such an idea with anyone else, but with him... He felt safe. Kit knew that in whatever to come, Loki would be by her side. 
She trusted him. In a much deeper way than the Avengers, or Shield, or anyone else. She knew they would fight for justice, life, and what is right. But with Loki? He fought for her.
And she loved him all the more for it. She wanted him to feel the same way; just as protected, and just as loved.
Maybe they weren't ready yet. But everything would be okay when they were.