Darcy woke Sunday morning and joined Eric and Jane in the kitchen.

"Seriously?" she asked. "It's the weekend!"

"Good morning, Darcy." Eric said from behind his paper.

Jane merely smiled and handed her a plate. "At least we made pancakes."

Darcy accepted the plate and poured syrup on it. "You're still weird," she told them.

After the two scientists left, she puttered around, flipping through channels on the tv and sites on the web. Nothing caught her interest and she ended up slumped on the couch staring at the ceiling, contemplating her situation. Choices, choices. She could leave to find a crappy job on her own merits, and possibly be kidnapped and tortured, or she could stay with the amazingly well-paying job that sucked out all her dignity and self-esteem.

"F my life." She was so lost in her misery that she jumped and almost fell off the couch when someone knocked on the door. "Jeez Louise!" She scrambled around the couch to the door, yanking it open. It was Agent Barton. She stepped back and eyed him warily. "Why are you here? You can't crank at me anymore, I didn't do anything. I haven't even left the building."

He merely looked at her, unimpressed with her rant. "You said you wanted a gym. Figured I'd show you ours."

"Oh, sorry. Um, gimme a sec to change." She grabbed some workout appropriate clothes from her bag and dashed to the bathroom. After she changed, she followed him down the hall and to the elevators. He pressed the floor button and placed his hand on the scanner for identification. "I didn't know there was a gym here."

"Stark keeps it for the team. It's not much, mostly set up for weights and boxing. definitely a guy's gym but, if it will work for you, I'll get him to give you clearance."

"Thanks. I don't need much, just somewhere to practice my forms." They leaned against opposite sides of the elevator, an awkward silence looming between them until the doors opened.

He gestured her through the doors and waved his arm. "What do you think?"

He was right about it being a guy's gym. Other than a couple of treadmills there was nothing but weights and punching bags. One end of the room was dominated by a boxing ring with enough space between it and the equipment to lay out the stack of mats piled against the wall. It reminded her of the gym she went to with her family. The only difference from the other male oriented gyms she had been to was the lack of grunge. This place looked as bright and shiny as the trendy chain gym she had gone to in college.

"It's nice, doesn't look like it gets used very much."

"Stark keeps the place pristine. Steve and I are in here most every day. Nat stops by occasionally but she mostly uses the facilities at headquarters. Stark likes to pretend he's a boxer every once in a while but mostly it's just me'n Steve."

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here?"

"It's locked down so we don't have to worry about people who aren't in the know about the avengers accidentally stumbling in here and seeing Steve benching half a ton. Since you already know about us, it doesn't matter."

"This will work great. Thanks for inviting me."

"You don't look too thrilled." He led her over to table along the wall and handed her a sweat towel.

"Sorry." She told him as she took the offered towel. "I'm just starting to feel a bit like a Disney princess."

"What?" He asked, half chuckling in amusement.

"You know, locked in the tower."

"It's not that you can't leave, you just need to be safe about it," he reminded her.

"Yeah," she agreed though she knew her tone was quiet and somewhat sullen. She wandered over to a row of weights and trailed her hand over them.

"Natasha was pretty harsh with you. So many of the people that we deal with have... less than normal backgrounds, I think she forgets that it can be overwhelming to someone who isn't used to this life."

"I think forgets is nice speak for doesn't care," she said before she thought about the rudeness of the statement but he spoke before she could apologize.

"Maybe a little of both. She doesn't have a lot of patience with people unless she's working them."

She nodded but didn't take her gaze off the weights until a towel collided with her head. "Hey!"

"That's enough moping." He told her, completely unrepentant. "Warm up and stretch. I want you to show me how you took down that guy"

Darcy Lewis, Clint Barton (c) Marvel