Author's Note: Okay, cross my fingers and hope I write this one in-character...


III. Emma Frost aka The White Queen


A month after arriving in London and moving in with Jane's mom, Darcy found her third stray in the form of Emma Frost.

She was walking back from picking up coffee and doughnuts - and really, she was starting to think that her coffee runs were cursed - when she noticed a form curled up near the curb, dressed in what had once been a pristine white blouse, but which was now a muddy brown color, and jeans. A closer look revealed that it was a blonde, light blue-eyed and pale-skinned woman, one that had clearly fallen on hard times, and recently too, judging by the shamed slump to her posture.

There was a small plastic cup half-filled with coins near the woman's foot, and as she walked by Darcy pulled out her one pound forty-six change from buying the doughnuts and dropped it into the cup. The woman obviously needed it more than she did.

Because she hadn't paused in walking, she missed the surprised look like crossed the blonde's dirt-smudged face after she'd dropped the coins.


It became a sort of routine after that, because now that Darcy was looking she saw that the homeless woman had basically set up camp on the curb near Jane's mom's house.

Every time Darcy walked passed her, the intern would drop some change into the ever-present cup. A month later, that graduated to telling the blonde hello when she walked by and buying an extra coffee to give to her. Two weeks after that, when she mentioned the blonde to Kitty, the younger girl had suggested giving her a sandwich too, so that was exactly what Darcy did. The moment she presented that first sandwich and cup of coffee to the other woman was also the moment that she learned the blonde's name: Emma.

They started talking after that, Darcy taking an hour each day for lunch and to go check on Emma and see how she was doing. They didn't really talk about important stuff, just whatever came to mind, what kind of books they liked, favorite movies, etc. Emma apparently had a secret weakness for historical romance and sci-fi movies, and they spent almost the entire hour Darcy had for lunch debating over which sci-fi movies was the best. Darcy voted for the first Alien movie, while Emma staunchly asserted that Star Wars was the greatest.

Emma was surprisingly educated and well-read, speaking eloquently and presenting thought out arguments for her point of view on various things. Even though she'd fallen on hard times, her graceful mannerisms shone through when she spoke or gestured. She also liked bologna and cheese sandwiches and chamomile tea, but took her coffee with lots of cream and milk. She had a strange fondness for the color white, Darcy found, but shrugged it off as just a favorite color sort of thing.

Eventually Darcy decided what the heck and started making a bit extra of whatever they were having for lunch to give to Emma. Jane just looked at her like she was the cutest thing she'd ever seen, Vanessa shook her head in exasperation and fondness, and Kitty praised her for helping someone less fortunate. Darcy thought it was the right thing to do, so she did it, and she didn't think it was hurting anyone.

Later, much later, Darcy would look back on the progression of her interaction with Emma and realize that it had been a lot like getting a stray cat used to you so you could pet it.

Jane would laugh at her for not realizing that sooner.


It was approaching December and the rain that fell almost constantly in London was turning icy when Darcy marched up to where Emma was huddled under an apartment overhang, an umbrella keeping her somewhat dry, and told the blonde woman bluntly, "Come on, get up, you're coming inside with me."

The other woman blinked, obviously surprised, and murmured, "What...?"

Darcy repeated, "I'm not letting you stay out here in this weather one minute longer, so up you come!" She gently grabbed Emma's arm and pulled the blonde to her feet, steadying her when she staggered.

"Why would-" Emma tried to ask, only to be cut off by a large sneeze.

Darcy raised her eyebrows, her expression saying plainly 'that's why', and Emma had the grace to look sheepish. The woman's pale skin was flushed slightly red, and Darcy was really hoping that she didn't have a fever, as those always sucked.

Now that the other woman was standing, Darcy was surprised to notice that Emma was taller than her, even if only by a few inches, and had boobs that rivaled her own. She couldn't really tell whose were bigger, but she made a mental note to ask Emma's measurements when the other woman was dried off and warmed up.

As she helped Emma descend the stairs, Darcy picked up the ever-present plastic cup of change and took it with them as she guided the other woman to Jane's mom's house.


Emma's minor cold (Darcy knew it!) went by quickly, with thankfully none of the nastier symptoms, and yet even after she recovered the blonde couldn't seem to bring herself to leave the warm atmosphere of the house.

It was crowded, noisy, there was a race to the bathroom every morning to get the first shower, and Emma and Vanessa got into fights practically every other hour, but as any of Darcy's three strays would tell you, it just felt like home. There was happiness and laughter in the air, sometimes they had spontaneous dance parties where they hopped and bopped without caring that they all looked like idiots, and Darcy cooked up a feast every night. Every day was something different and completely, utterly brilliant.

The newest addition to Darcy's strays proved herself an able hand at reminding Jane to eat and somehow being able to understand her Science! babbling. She was also able to drive on the correct side of the road in London, which was a skill Darcy sadly lacked and neither Vanessa or Kitty had bothered to learn. It was also nice having another pair of hands around when Jane got the idea to drive around the city and take readings, or go investigate what she thought were anomalies in the readings she got.

Also, Emma made a great getaway driver for when those supposed anomalies weren't on publically accessible property.

It was only a year after Emma joined them and Darcy began tentatively trying to get back into the dating scene and met Ian the possible intern at an internet cafe that they found out that Emma could read minds.

This was revealed after Jane had interviews/interrogated Ian about his intentions towards Darcy and confessed after he'd left that she thought he was charming. Darcy had really thought he had potential, even if he was a Londoner. Kitty had seemed like she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, Vanessa had kept quiet, but Emma spoke up, "Don't hire him. He works for SHIELD."

A long moment of silence, and Jane had asked quietly, "How do you know that he works for SHIELD?" Her tone was even, polite almost, and all of them knew that that was when she was most dangerous.

Emma hesitated, swallowing nervously before holding her head up high and saying, "I know because I read his mind. He was sent here to get close to you through Darcy and copy all of your research." Her face was as smooth as though made out of ice and completely self-contained. Whatever their reaction was to her announcement, she was ready for it...or at least she thought she was.

Kitty broke the silence first, "Neat! I can walk through walls." The youngest of them was smiling and bouncing on her feet, hands clasped loosely behind her back.

Next up was Vanessa, who said shortly, "Shape-shifting. That's what I can do."

Darcy shrugged and said to no one in particular, "I'm not even surprised anymore, I'm really not." She sighed, but then smiled at Emma and said, "I don't have any powers and neither does Jane. We're just naturally awesome." That was when she noticed the knowing look Vanessa was giving Emma and her eyes narrowed as she said slowly, "Wait, is this why you two are always fighting? You knew Emma had an ability, Vanessa?"

The brunette in question shrugged, "I suspected."

Suddenly a lot of things made sense and a great many of Vanessa and Emma's arguments were thrown into sharp perspective; especially the veiled barbs Vanessa had been sending at Emma about 'hiding things' and 'a woman has to have some secrets'. Darcy felt like an idiot for not noticing sooner, and from the looks on their faces so did Jane and Kitty.

"Have you been reading our minds a lot?" Kitty asked tentatively, her face already turning red in preemptive embarrassment.

"No! I haven't read any of your minds since I came here!" Emma swiftly denied, frowning defensively as she added, "I haven't used my powers since Darcy began talking to me, I swear." She tensed as though expecting an attack, and that set off all of Darcy's maternal alarms. The intern was next to the blonde and hugging the woman before she could blink, and after some tense moments Emma hugged her back, both letting go before things could get awkward.

Vanessa and Kitty both relaxed further at Emma's assurances, and the two of them shared a smile as they watched Darcy and Emma hug.

It was Jane, surprisingly, who brought them back to the original topic, "Okay then, so we tell Ian to take a hike and sweep for bugs, because I don't trust SHIELD as far as I can throw them, and then work on figuring out who sleeps where now that Emma's staying for sure."

"Sounds like a good idea," the four other women chorused, Emma's smile a little watery.

This turned out to be a better idea than they'd thought, as Jane's printer had been bugged to copy everything it printed to a SHIELD fax machine. Jane was on the warpath for the rest of the week after that particular discovery, and Ian had to report to his SHIELD superiors that he had no idea why he wasn't hired.

As it turned out, there was some good news as they discovered that if Kitty passed through anything electronic it shorted out, if not outright overloaded.

And so Darcy's collection of strays increased by one.