Pretty When You Cry

Chapter 9

Bruce would've preferred to have examined Loki alone, just because of how intrusive the exam might be. He'd have to undress Loki to clean him up and check his wounds.

However, Loki put up a fight whenever Bruce tried to get near him. He was surprisingly calmer in Steve's presence, though. Something about Captain America must've calmed him, because he often stopped fighting if Steve was nearby. Bruce couldn't explain it, and he didn't really want to right then. His first priority was making sure that his patient was okay.

"Loki," he said, in a calm, cool voice, "This is Bruce. That's Steve. Do you recognize us?"

Loki was lying on a hospital bed, now. Lying against the clean white sheets, Bruce and Steve could see how truly filthy and bruised the man was.

"Yes..." Loki whispered, hoarsely.

"Good. As you know I have medical experience. You are very injured. I need to examine you. Do you understand?"

Loki shut his eyes, and Steve noticed a single tear fall down his cheek. He nodded his head ever so slightly in agreement.

"Good. Steve, can you get me clean, wet towel? We're going to get some of the grime off of him."

Steve nodded, and began to move from the bed to get the requested item, when he felt something stop him. Loki had reached out, and was weakly grasping his shirt with his left hand. Loki looked up at him, pathetically, eyes begging him not to leave.

"Uh... Bruce," Steve said, moving back towards the bed. "I think he wants me to stay."

"I'll get what we need," Bruce replied.

He returned soon after, towel and a small basin of water in hand.

00

The exam had revealed some scary results. Bruce had counted fifty one bruises and cuts on Loki's body. His left arm was fractured, as were both of his ankles, and his right arm was broken in three places. His shoulder was dislocated. Two ribs were broken. Blood pressure and heart rate were too low, he was dehydrated, and when they finally managed to get him on a scale, he clocked in at 116 pounds, much to low of a weight for someone of Loki's height.

The exam took a lot out of Loki. He seemed to desperately want to sleep, but was too afraid to. Bruce had ended up giving him a sedative to knock him out. Loki needed the rest.

Steve now looked down at the dark haired man, who was sleeping peacefully, his breathing having evened out. He was cleaned up, now, and even though he was thin and sick and torn up, Steve couldn't help but think that Loki looked beautiful, in a weird sort of way.

Steve pushed that thought away as quickly as possible. He couldn't think like that. He had to protect Loki. That was his job. Especially since Loki had essentially 'chosen' him. He couldn't let the man down.

Steve stayed by Loki's side for the next several hours, until Bruce finally dragged him away.

00

It turned out that Bruce had wanted to perform two more checks on Loki, before he woke up again. He didn't want Steve to be there for them. He explained that he didn't think that Loki would've wanted Steve there for them, either.

So Steve waited outside the room. Bruce finally came back out, a grim look on his face.

"What's the verdict?"

Bruce took a deep breath. "I did a quick internal exam on him. He shows signs of having been sexually assaulted. There were tears in his rectal area. Also...I checked his mouth, as well. His throat is raw. That's probably why his voice is so hoarse. It's bad. I'd expect to see that type of deterioration in someone who was bulimic. It makes me think that someone was forcing him to be sick, or something was making him sick repeatedly."

Steve cringed. He wondered if Tony had truly raped Loki. And had he made Loki get sick? After the wounds he'd seen... he wouldn't have put it past Tony.

But, that didn't matter right now. The other Avengers, and SHIELD, would make sure that Tony was punished appropriately. For now, what was important was making sure that Loki got better.

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