Why Even Try (Book 1 of 4)

Chapter 13 - Beginning To Heal

As morning begins to break through the window, I stir. My left side is incredibly painful but there is an odd weight on my right side. Turning slowly I can that Loki is asleep on his left side curled up to my right side. He has his arms around me, and his face is buried in my neck. Each exhale of his gives me a strange sensation as it tickles my neck, but I do not want to wake him just yet. He seems to be sleeping peacefully, and sometimes Loki did have problems sleeping.

What the hell happened? Why are we in these positions? I like feeling Loki next to me. My head still feels fuzzy... I try to access my memories, but get frustrated when I can't remember anything past watching Thor and Loki leave for the village yesterday.

"Mom?" I ask faintly, and she stirs.

She moves over to my left side, but doesn't sit next me. She smiles and me.

"How are you feeling my dear?" she says and gives me a glass of water.

"What happened?" I say and she looks confused

"You don't remember?"

"I remember some of it, but my head feels fuzzy..."

My mom begins to tell me about what she knows happened and then how Loki managed to destroy the rubble and find me.

"He was so worried about you." she says with finality.

I move my shoulder to nudge him awake and eventually he stirs. Slowly he moves his right hand along my waist and groans as he begins to wake and stretch. He buries his face further in to my neck, but I am not entirely certain that he is aware of what he is doing. I feel him kiss my neck, and move up to my jawline and cheek. He lets out a small groan and sigh against my neck.

Suddenly he opens his eyes and sees that his face is right up against the side of mine. Turning to look at him I smile slightly, and he sees my mother is standing on the other side of the bed. He realizes how this must look, and he shoots straight out of bed.

"Oh my..I ... I am so sorry...." He flushes, "I didn't mean anything, I am so sorry, please both of you accept my apologies," and he flees from the room as quick as he can.

"Good morning, my son..." Frigga says and Loki speeds past her without responding. "What was that about?"

I shrug my shoulders and my mom catches her eye and shakes her head slowly.

"Did he stay here all night?" my mom nods.

"He was very worried about you dear," Frigga says, "how are you feeling today?"

"I am really sore, should it hurt this much?" I ask.

"Well, yes, I am sorry to say. You had several broken ribs, a small crack in your hip, lots of bruising, and the gash on your side is substantial. You will not be leaving here for a bit" she finishes.

"But, you can stay in our private room for as long as you need...Loki made sure you had some privacy to recover" Frigga states. "You will need to lay on your back or right side mostly, and we will get you out to walk in the gardens as often as we can. We also have some healing balms to help you."

"Thank you, your majesty...." I say and smile. It's all I can do right now since I really don't remember anything about the accident.

Frigga has always been like a second mother to me. Eira comes in and takes me to bathe, while my mom goes to the kitchens to get some food. After I am dressed in some loose fitting clothing, she helps me back to bed, and sits me up so I can eat some of the food my mom has brought back. Gingerly I move and instinctively touch my left side; I feel tears welling up.

"Are you in pain?" my mom asks and I nod.

"It hurts a lot, but I need to work through it, for a while anyway." I ask, "can you help me see it? I want to look in the mirror"

"After you eat..." she says gently to let me know that it is not a suggestion, but an order, "and you don't need to work through the pain, we will manage your discomfort"

We chat amicably for awhile and have a few laughs. Once we finish, she helps me to the corner where a mirror has been set up behind a screen. Carefully, she helps me lift my shirt to see the massive mark that runs down left side from just under my armpit to right above my hip. It looks as though I was almost split in half and then put back together. I feel tears forming as it hits me that I have a long road ahead of me for recovery, and who knows when I will be able to get back to my normal. My mom hugs me just as my legs buckle.

"Dear, you will be fine, it will be an adjustment for a while, but you need to take time and recover" she continues, "I know you are wondering why you aren't healing quickly, but you must remember that you are relatively young. Your healing abilities are still developing."

"Mom how did this happen?" I ask her, "who would want to do this the palace, the Royal family? They had to have been the targets, right?"

"That's something they are trying to figure out; who exactly the target was, but rest assured my dear, it was not you or Sif" she tucks my hair behind my ear, "you both were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

She sits on the bed and indicates that I should sit next to her. We talk for about what happened until Sif, Fandral and Thor come in to see me. Sif is still bruised, her arm is broken and she has limp with an injured foot. We all hug, and my mom slowly leaves the room so I can visit with friends.

"You gave us quite the scare my dear.." Fandral says and helps me sit back on the bed

Fandral sits next to me and puts his arm around my shoulders.

"Scared myself too..." I respond.

"Where is the dark prince?" Fandral asks jokingly.

"He was here earlier, but left..." I look to Thor, who seems to sense what happened

"Well I thought for certain he would be by your side," Sif says and then rolls her eyes, "like he always is"

We spend the next few hours talking and laughing, even though it's painful for me. Eventually they leave and say that they will come back to visit later. I roll over on to my right side so I can look out of the windows. I can see some of the other people training and get a pang when I wish I was able to be out there training and then the tears start. I fall asleep and am awakened when I hear Eira enter the room, and find that someone has covered me with Loki's green blanket. The blanket is the most comforting thing I have ever felt, it smells like Loki, and makes me feel safe.

I wonder where Loki is, I haven't seen or heard from him since he left so quickly this morning. I miss him, I need to see him and thank him for helping me, for saving me.