A/N: This chapter is mostly filler, but it also sets up the confrontation in the next chapter. Also, there is an unsubtle hint as to who Darcy's magical ancestor is.
"That wasn't what I was expecting," Jane said. "How did you do that?"
Darcy looked up at her friend. "Uh, magic. It's a little difficult to control at first. Sorry."
Jane's eyes widened. "Darcy, your eyes are red, and you have weird ridges on your face."
"Really?" Darcy dropped the sand and reached up to touch her face. Sure enough, ridges of hardened flesh had been raised on her skin. It felt strange, touching them. She knew that they were there, but it was an unfamiliar sensation, like finding a new mole, but on a larger scale. "Cool. Weird, but cool."
Jane touched one the ridges then yanked her hand back quickly. "Shit, that's really cold."
Jane stuffed her fingers into her armpits before Darcy could get a glimpse of them, but Darcy still felt bad for unintentionally hurting her.
"Sorry, sorry, hang on a sec," she said, closing her eyes and concentrating.
The fear that she had used to fuel her magic was still there, a cold lump in her stomach, so Darcy focused on warmer emotions: friendship, love, and compassion, and the people she associated them with. She smothered the fear with those feelings until it was almost completely gone.
A warm sensation raced through her bloodstream, starting at her heart and moving out with every rapid heartbeat. It didn't hurt; it tingled, like the feeling of holding one's hands in front of a fire on a chilly day. It was soothing, and when it was finished Darcy felt comfortable in her own skin again.
"Well, I believe you about the magic now," Jane quipped.
Darcy's shoulders slumped. At least one person believed her tonight, even if she had required proof and would probably have a half dozen hypotheses on how it worked by morning. Although why Jane - who was deeply rooted in science- would believe that Darcy was capable of wielding magic, but her mother- who had been raised knowing about magic yet hated it- didn't was beyond her. Maybe her mother was in denial.
"C'mon." Jane held out her hand and helped Darcy to her feet, casually chucking aside the glass Darcy had created earlier with the other hand. "Let's go back to the RV, where you can explain everything you know about magic to me."
"I thought you were mad at me," Darcy said.
"Well, I was," Jane replied. "But the magic and its possibilities are so fascinating. I'll go back to being mad when the novelty has worn off."
"As long as we save the science until tomorrow, I'm game. Or maybe the next day," Darcy mumbled as the world tipped sideways beneath her feet, tiredness sweeping over her like a wave. "I'm exhausted."
"Darcy!" Jane exclaimed as she grabbed Darcy's arm to keep her from tipping over. "Why didn't you tell me you were so tired?"
"I wasn't until just now," Darcy replied, trying to keep herself upright. She felt like she had just pushed herself through an all-nighter without any caffeine after having run a marathon. "It must have been the magic I used. Dad always said that magic was fueled by emotions. I just didn't think he meant it so literally."
Darcy could feel her eyelids sagging, pulled down by her crushing need for sleep.
Jane began tugging her back to the RV, muttering something, but Darcy was having difficulty focusing on her words. Probably something about the science of magic. Or the magic of science. Whatever it was, she was too tired to care.
All of her energy was focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not losing her footing on the desert sand. If she fell now, Darcy knew that she would fall asleep for at least a week, and Jane wasn't strong enough to drag her the rest of the way.
Finally, finally, they made it back. Darcy was so relieved that if she hadn't been about to fall asleep on her feet she might have cried.
Then she saw who was waiting for them on the front step.
"You have no right to be here," Jane began, fury shaking her small frame.
Agent Coulson interrupted her. "Dr. Foster, I'm here to speak to Miss Lewis about her connections to-"
"Stop," Darcy said. "Just. Stop. I am too tired for this bullshit. Come back in the morning. I might talk to you then."
He frowned. "Miss Lewis I really must insist-"
"No. Leave. Go home. We're done here," Darcy stared at him, her eyes dead. Agent Coulson chose not to argue with someone so obviously about to collapse from fatigue.
"Goodnight Miss Lewis, Dr. Foster." He nodded at them before getting into his car and driving away, the headlights the only illumination in the night.
In the morning Darcy would probably regret staring down a SHIELD agent, but for now she was too tired to think clearly.
The world began to flash by as her brain grew fuzzier with exhaustion.
One moment they were on the steps of the RV, Jane's arm providing support. The next they were in the kitchen. The beanbag chair slouched on the floor. The shelf sagged under the piles of astronomy books. The bed, the beautiful bed.
Jane's voice, murmuring a goodnight.
Darkness.