The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

Fever

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

"Bruce, what's happening?!" I yelled over to the scientist as I frantically ran around trying to help stabilize Loki.

His vitals were all over the place, and even though we managed to stop the flatlining, his condition was still critical.

Bruce was panicking along side me, running around and hooking up a bunch of wires to the machines connected to Loki. "I have no idea! I'm using the same treatments we developed for Thor in the past, but it's not working!"

His words made me stop dead in my tracks.

"Wait. Same treatments as Thor?" I turned around to face him, everything slowly falling into place.

"Yeah." He nodded as he went through a drawer on the other side of the room. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to perfect those Asgardian healing methods?"

As he said this, I mentally facepalmed. "No wonder he's not getting better!" I exclaimed and ran over to Loki's side. "What's his resting body temperature?"

He looked at me strangely, but checked the monitor. "Um, 98.6. It's a little lower than the average Asgardian, but I've been trying to raise it as much as possible."

My heart plummeted at his words.

"No!" My anxiety was through the roof. "Don't do that! We need to bring it down! If it gets any higher, he could die!"

"What are you talking about?" He stared at me like I had two heads.

"He's not Asgardian!" I stressed my words and placed my hand on Loki's forehead, just to find that he was completely burning up.

"Catherine, he's Thor's brother!" Bruce's voice was more annoyed now.

I rolled my eyes and fully turned to face him, my fear turning into anger. "Bruce, Loki is Thor's adopted brother! He's not Asgardian, he's a Frost Giant! His normal body temperature is much colder than this!" I yelled, now terrified.

This couldn't be how I lost him. Not like this. Not over some stupid misunderstanding.

His eyes widened in realization. "Well, that explains a hell of a lot! Alright, now that I know that..." He trailed off as he ran over to the other side of the room to lower the thermostat drastically. "...hopefully that will help. I'm going to get some ice or liquid nitrogen or something." With that, he ran out of the room.

But I knew there wasn't enough time for that. His temperature was way too high. He'd die before we got his temperature down.

"Oh God..." I started to hyperventilate, realizing that this might actually be it. "No, no, no."

There was only one option left, and I knew that. But if I went through with it, something might happen to me or the baby.

Even through all that, I knew that I had to do it. If I didn't and Loki ended up dying, I would never forgive myself.

"Please don't let this be too much..." I murmured, placing my hands on his shoulders to start an Asgardian cooling spell that he had taught me a few months back. "La bålet dempe. Ta isen til overflaten. Varmen vil tine og kulden stige."

I firmly kept my grip on his shoulders as I continued with the spell, my energy depleting with every passing second.

As the seconds turned into minutes, I began to see a change in his appearance. His appearance skin wasn't as pale, his chest was rising and falling more steadily, and his vitals started to return to normal.

After another minute had passed, my vision blurred and I got increasingly dizzy, so I stopped and sat back in my chair before passing out.

I could only pray that I had done enough.