With Tony gone, Darcy finally had a chance to really check out her office. The couch was right across from the window, which she suspected was Tony's hint that she could just sit there and watch Bruce work. Next to the couch was a small counter with a sink, mini fridge, and awesome looking coffee machine. The window into the lab was surrounded by cabinets and shelves that were full of books about everything from Shakespeare to genetics. Behind her desk was a large window that looked out on the skyline. Basically, it rocked.

The first thing Darcy did (after lining up her action figures and mini stuffed animals on an open shelf) was check her email. She had to admit the whole transparent screen thing was kind of cool, except that anyone who came in the door would immediately be able to see when she was just derping around the internet.

She logged in and did a double take. Apparently she had 25,000 unread emails.

"Holy shit! TONY!"

"He's not going to hear you from here."

"GAH!" She pulled her taser and spun around to see Clint had hidden himself on top of a book shelf. "What the hell, Clint?"

"I was bored and wanted to say hi."

"Dude, you can't just hide in my room. I could've tasered you. Next time, I will taser you. How'd you even get up there?"

Clint shrugged, "I'm good with heights."

"Get down. I have to check my email, and I don't want to feel you reading what I'm writing."

"Fine," Clint jumped down and sulked his way onto the couch.

"Any idea why I have 25,000 emails?"

"Some of them might be from us."

"Oh good."

There were about 20 emails from the Avengers. Tony and Clint apparently were vying for the person to clog up her inbox the most, and Steve obviously had to send three because he kept sending his before he'd finished.

The rest of the emails were requests for Tony or Bruce to come give a talk at some school or conference (Jane's stuff was probably still sent to her university account).

"Jeez. This is going to take forever." She started systematically deleting emails.

"So…I got a message from Fury that you might need a chaperone?"

"That was one of his requirements for me having a relationship with Bruce. Actually, it was one of his requirements for me to stay in the country."

"You fared better than most, at least he bargained with you. Anyone else would have just woken up in Antarctica."

"Dude, I can't go to Antarctica. I hate penguins, with their little beady eyes and tuxedos. They always make me feel underdressed."

Clint sat up and looked her in the eye, "Seriously, though, Fury respects you, which means you're tough. You'll fit in fine around here."

There was a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in!"

Bruce opened the door, and seeing Clint, said, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, I was just leaving. We'll talk later, Darcy."

"Um, Clint, I love the way you know when to politely leave, but I really hate penguins, so…"

"I'll be right outside in the hallway."

He quietly closed the door after him.

"What is it Bruce?" she walked over to the couch and curled her legs under her.

"Well, we never really got to talk after the date," Bruce said as he sat down carefully next to her.

"I don't know if that really counts as a date, big boy."

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about that. I'm not sure dating is such a good idea."

"Why? I know I'm a maneater, but you don't have to be worried."

"Darcy, dating me is dangerous."

"I know, and let me just tell you that I was forced to watch all of the Twilight movies by my roommate and my life is not turning into that. We are going to approach this like adults. If anyone can keep me safe from your alter-ego, it is the Avengers, and Fury has already kindly offered to supply a super-chaperone whenever we need one, as is evidenced by Clint standing outside the door like a good bodyguard."

"So that's what that was about. You've really thought this through; It's been less than a day."

"I multi-task. Seriously, though, I think this could be a good thing, are you willing to give us a shot?"

He paused for a second, "As long as we take the necessary precautions, and you have to let me set limits on the physical stuff."

Darcy smiled and leaned forward to gently kiss him on the cheek. "Of course," she whispered.

Suddenly, the door banged open, and she was again apparently the center of an Avengers Assembly.

"You guys have the worst timing, you know that? Clint, you were supposed to take care of this."

He shrugged, "I'm a chaperone, not a bodyguard."

"LADY DARCY, IT IS SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

"Thor, you just saw me like an hour ago, no need to start a thunderstorm."

"I hope we're not interrupting anything, Darcy," Steve said.

"That's alright, Steve, we can continue this later," she said, sitting up.

"Anyone want popcorn?" Natasha grinned as he pushed in a movie theater style cart.

"Oh my god, I love you."

"Careful, there, we don't want Bruce to turn green with envy." Clint retorted. Darcy high-fived him in approval. Behind him, Natasha smirked.

"I should be going anyways," Bruce said, smiling secretively again.

"What, why? What's going on?"

"Come sit here on the couch and see."

Confused, she took what appeared to be the seat of honor smushed in between Cap and Clint. Through the window, she saw that Bruce and Tony had set up what appeared to be a science show.

"Aww, is this for me?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, may we have your attention please?" Bruce said, his voice echoing through the speakers in her office. He and Tony entered the lab all dressed up in labcoats and goggles, which Darcy thought made Bruce look even hotter.

"We wanted to welcome Darcy to our team."

"And, as we're sure everyone agrees, what better way to do that than with science?"

"The fun kind of science," Tony added, "The exploding kind."

"Well, nothing too dangerous."

"Yeah, we have to make sure Bruce here stays his cuddly human self, so he can make out with Darcy later."

"Tony!"

"Why else do you think I put a couch in her office? And spent all that money to install a smart glass window so you can have privacy?"

Bruce lifted his goggles to run his fingers over his eyes, "Tony…"

"Anyways, Bruce and I made a Rube Goldberg machine. It's this thing that does lots of stuff to accomplish an explosion. I'm sure Bruce wants to explain the physics of every single little detail of this machine, but I just want to start it, so…" He dropped a Ping-Pong ball into a chute, which started off a chain of Mentos and Coke volcanoes which started some dominoes stuff, and I'm not going to bore you with the details but I assure you it was spectacular and took over the entire lab. Darcy was hoping that her new job didn't include cleanup duties.

About halfway through, Bruce looked at the end and said, "Holy shit, Tony, how much thermite is that?"

"Well a tiny bit like you wanted is just boring, so I amped it up a bit."

"That's because I wanted a tiny fire, not a massively dangerous fireball!"

"Oh, it'll be fine."

"Tony, I don't think that's such a good ide...ARAARGH," Bruce bent over, his muscles growing, splitting through his shirt, and turning green. When he looked up at the window, the only thing left of Bruce was his curly hair. He roared, pure hatred in his eyes and a giant fireball growing in the background.

"Oh shit."