The heart was made to be broken

by SarahJStar

Darcy was miserable; like it was hard to breath with the tightness in her chest and the lump in her throat, miserable. Not that she let it show, of course, she kept bigger things to herself than how an archer with a propensity for purple and practical jokes had thoroughly decimated her heart.

11. Chapter 11

Darcy looked to Nat expectantly, looking for the inane party chit chat that she was now craving thanks to the angst and suspected betrayal fest they had all just been through, but Tash just held up a hand, shook her head and widened her eyes for emphasis.

"I have been on mission," Tasha defended strongly. "The only gossip I have is from terror networks and organised crime syndicates and I think we can all agree that that would not be classified as 'idle party chit chat'." She said with a tilt to the side of her head and Darcy shrugged a shoulder as her gaze wandered the room and took in its occupants with narrowed eyes.

"Considering who is actually at this party, I might have to disagree with you on that-it's like a freaking super spy night out and I'm positive that these losers would all love a play by play from you about your clandestine escapades," Darcy did not miss the slightly offended look that Maria had on her face but she ignored it because she was right; everyone in the room was a freaking workaholic. "But point taken anyway and as I personally find all of that shit to be exceptionally uninteresting after the fact, you are exempt from this trope of fun party having." Darcy pardoned and Tasha's shoulders actually seemed to slacken a little in relief at not having to offer a topic for discussion and Darcy smiled at her bemusedly. Bring up a type of hunting knife and the woman could wax poetic for an age, but the minutiae of other people's lives had her fretting up a storm. Darcy was going to have to work on that. Later though, right now she wanted to languish in the frivolous, but by Thor would she be making flash cards, colour coded by topic and everything. Still thinking of her upcoming trip to Office Depot and how overly excited she was by the idea of a copious variety of paper stuffs, Darcy rolled her head back on Steve's chest to look up into his face and asked. "What about you, Steve? And it'd better be the good stuff; I know you hear more than you let on, super serum boy." And he just rolled his eyes at her like she knew that he would. He didn't like to use his super hearing for less than honourable means and it never failed to irritate Darcy, who felt that she thrived on hearing about the trivia of another's existence.

That was one of the many, many reasons that she loved hanging out with a drunken Pepper Potts, that woman had all the juicy stuff about the elite of New York society and beyond and had no qualms in sharing after a few bottles of expensive, and wholly underappreciated on Darcy's part, wine. Especially, as she knew that Darcy was a fucking vault of secrets and wouldn't go blabbing to the nearest reporter or sleazy blogger. Well, she wouldn't go blabbing to anyone besides Clint; he loved gossip just as much as she did; he was such a girl sometimes and a bitchy one at that. They had made quite the pair of chatty Cathy's on any given night spent together and she was going to miss not sharing the salacious secrets she accrued with him. It was a nice and, often times, hilarious way for the two of them to wind down after a particularly gross day spent apart.

Just as she was about to pout and use her anime eyes to guilt Steve out of his principled silence, he caved with a groan of defeat that Darcy relished. Breaking a National Icon was delicious.

"Ok, fine, put that damn bottom lip away." He groused, nudging the underside with his thumb. Darcy heard Maria snort but she ignored it and levelled Steve with a dazzling smile of gratitude that he just shook his head at for having been bested once more. "Thor told me that the Warriors Three will be making a return trip to the Tower soon. Apparently they were a little jealous that Sif got to have a visit today and they didn't." Steve said and Darcy narrowed her eyes dangerously at the news, making Steve backtrack a little as he looked down at her with widened eyes of alarm. "Thor did say that he would talk to you about it first, though. He's aware that they're being punished after their last trip to earth."

"Damn right they're being punished after the shit they pulled," Darcy grumbled as she scrunched up her nose in distaste, her mind whirring with how unwelcome this news was, before sighing wearily. "But I guess that it has been nearly two months since I put them on their time out from Midgard." Darcy allowed as she un-narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips instead. "Is that amount of time suitable enough for what they did, though?" she asked the group at large.

Darcy was well aware that she had a slightly vindictive streak when purposefully crossed and that she could take her revenge a little far if she failed to check herself. Tony had learnt about that streak the hard way when he had 'accidentally' burnt a rather sizable chunk of her hair off when messing with Tasha's Widow Bites after she and Tasha had specifically told him to leave them the fuck alone. With all the consideration Tony showed in the lab for her safety, he at times reverted to his douche state when told not to do something that he really wanted to.

In that instant of (deserved) vindictiveness (in her opinion), Darcy had had JARVIS lock Tony out of his own lab, workshop and suite and cut all ways of communication with Pepper off until he had sufficiently apologised. The apology being that she got him to buy her an expensive iTunes card – the money going straight to Apple which she knew made him want to cry tears of inadequacy- and get her in with his fancy hairstylist the same day, and she had him sign a contract saying that if Darcy ever lost more hair thanks to him, she had the right to shave one or both eye brows and his goatee, off as recompense.

Darcy wasn't so mean that she asked for the hair on his head, at his age it would be hit and miss if it were to grow back. Tony had stopped breathing and moving, just staring at her for a long while after she had said that to him and had ran to the closest shiny surface to check for receding hairlines and bald spots. He was just lucky that his grovelling had satisfied her inner beast enough that she hadn't taken Clint up on his offer to put hair removal cream in his styling products; then he really would have had something to have another midlife crisis about.

"Are you asking if eight weeks is long enough for them to learn not to challenge the civilian public of earth to duels for their honour and the nobility of their planet? Because if you are I would say: no." Tash answered, deadpan as always. "Sixty days isn't even a blip on the radar of people who live for hundreds of years so I very much doubt that they have learned their lesson on that one, Darce."

"I don't know," Steve countered as he put his chin on top of Darcy's head. "You didn't see Hogun's face when Darcy was tearing into the three of them after their fourth foiled attempt. He was petrified. Fandral on the other hand looked a little too happy when confronted with a pissed off Darcy, which we all know is actually terrifying." Steve winced a little at the memory. "It was uncomfortable to be around."

Steve cringed and Darcy grinned, both at the fear she was able to instil in her super friends, because sometimes it was freaking necessary, and Steve's obvious dislike of Fandral. Or rather his dislike of the way Fandral was around Darcy, the only, seemingly, single occupant of the Tower who wasn't Natasha Romanov. People knew better than to interfere in her personal affairs.

Fandral's dandy, playboy ways towards Darcy always rubbed Steve and the other men of the Tower the wrong way, even Thor who knew just how harmless his friend from home was, and it never failed to amuse her how they always to find their way between the two of them in any given situation. They were like her very own personal shield against sexual innuendo and Asgardian come on's; not that she needed it, she'd turned him down when she was single and turned him down even harder when he had propositioned her and she had been in deep with Clint.

Another funny thing to Darcy about Fandral being so persistent in his hitting on her was that it never, not even once, seemed to bother Clint, who out of everyone, herself aside, it should have bothered the most. When she asked him about his lack of concern, Clint just said that he knew that Darcy loved him and that she had no need for an 'alien with worse facial hair than Stark and an even worse history with women' when he loved her just as much in return.

Darcy had remembered how distinctly stunned she'd felt when he'd told her that, that she had just stared at him for a full minute, before she'd she just let a smile spread across her face and she'd attacked his face with her mouth, not that he put up any fight against her. She'd never experienced that level of mutual trust in a relationship before, romantic or otherwise, and she found the feeling to be both warming and vaguely terrifying in its intensity but she also never wanted it to end; she wanted to have it forever, to cultivate it into something even more fulfilling and rewarding. But the reality of her current situation came crashing back, that it had ended and now she was going to have to deal with that reality now.

And ugh, did she need that fucking drink. If her brain was going to continue with its bitch ways of using the truth against her, she was going to punish it by killing off some brain cells. She felt she could afford to forget a few dates and things; she had JARVIS for that anyways. Her liver may not deserve such treatment, because that organ had always been good to her during her later teen years and onwards, but she would say sorry to it with a cleanse at a later date, when she had stopped having Clint-centric trips down memory lane that made her unbelievably and soul-crushingly sad, that was.

"Sif did also say that she would put them on the least liked of guard duties if they misbehaved on another trip here." Maria added and Darcy decided to direct her attention back to the present conversation and not past ones that would only serve to depress her. "Something to do with the 'children of Asgard needing minders for an excursion to the outer forests' with the smile that Sif had I would say the three of them have been thoroughly warned and shouldn't be trying to engage the public in anymore medieval fisticuffs." And Darcy blinked a few times in response.

"The Warriors Three are scared of children?" Darcy asked after a moment of consideration, before she tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. "No, yeah that makes a lot of sense, actually. They were passed by a kindergarten class in one of those safety lines, holding hands with each other, wearing florescent tape for, you know, safety and the three of them threw themselves against the wall of a Starbucks so hard and fast to get away from them that it visibly shook, shouting about 'tiny devils joining together'." Darcy remembered as her nose scrunched. Asgardians were real weird people and Darcy thought that that should bother her a lot more than the not at all that it did.

"To be fair, they would only ever of had experience with Asgardian children and I think that would be enough to put anyone off from the younger generations of any race, Asgardian warrior or not." Tasha pointed out with a raised finger of the hand that held her glass which Darcy was secretly coveting. "I can't imagine that the children of Asgard would be all that easy to handle. I mean think of how excited and enthused Thor gets about random things now and then put that in terms of a child, who doesn't have the mental processes of an adult." Nat turned her head and the rest followed her gaze and they all took in Jane and Thor who were talking in the middle of the room; Jane swaying on her feet slightly and Darcy sighed. Boss lady had gotten into the Meade. Darcy was just glad that she wouldn't have to be on 'make sure Jane doesn't throw up on herself or try to do science' duty. And oh, look at that; she had just found a silver lining for leaving that didn't involve Clint and wasn't complete crap. "I'm just waiting for the day that Jane tells us that she's pregnant." Tasha said as she turned back to the group. "That would be an interesting gestation and that's to say nothing of what a half god half genius baby would be like when he or she actually arrives." Tasha said with a ticked eyebrow that had Darcy grimacing and Steve shaking his head. Maria just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I don't really want to think about that anymore than I have already been forced to." Darcy said with downturned lips. "Don't get me wrong, when that bundle of Asgardian/Astrophysicist arrives, I am going to be all over it with obnoxious Aunt cooing and spoiling, but I do not need to think of Janie's gestation with the future apple of my eye. From what I could gather from the high pitched shrill that emanated from her, and was aimed at me, after she and Thor had discussed baby having, it takes, like, as long as an elephants pregnancy and those alien babies come out just as big as far as the Boss Lady is concerned. Then she went on about how she didn't want to have to do a Bella and 'have her baby kill her from the inside'. I just shut down after that." Darcy said as she shook her head and took in the looks on Nat and Maria's faces. They were not pleased in the least with this conversation; and if the way Steve making noises from the back of his throat, neither was he. But Darcy had had to withstand it so, so could they as far as she was concerned. Misery loves company and so do emotionally scarring conversations. "I set her up with a telescope and tequila and begrudgingly listened to her random, and oh so drunk, outbursts for the rest of the night until she just passed the fuck out." Darcy gave an exaggerated shudder. "I was in no way prepared for that conversation and I admit to being an enabler with no shame whatsoever. I did not want to hear anymore about how an Asgardian's placenta rated against a human's, because apparently the answer is not very highly, if Jane yelling about caloric intake of a moose and iron pills the size of her fists was anything to go by." Darcy said and Maria's face scrunched up, Darcy just nodded slowly in acknowledgement. Asgardian/Human baby cooking was all kinds of gross and complicated and had permanently scarred Darcy for life. She was just glad that her pregnancies would never have any Asgardian involvement outside of the baby having them for super aunts and uncles.

"Yeah, Thor talked to me about that too." Steve said lowly. "Not in as greater deal as Jane though, thank God." Steve nodded. "Well, 'talked to me' may be overstating, slightly. It was more having me dodge Mjölnir for four hours until he got bored and whatever issues he had had were out of his system. Then he ate an entire pig whilst I sat there nodding every few sentences. It was...enlightening to say the least." Steve decided, diplomatically as always and Darcy scoffed her disagreement. This subject matter, more than any other ever faced by Captain America and Darcy Freaking Lewis, had no room for any kind of diplomacy. "More like horrifying, Steve." Darcy corrected. "Seriously, there were things about Asgardian and human anatomical compatibility that I never wanted to know, and trust me, Jane has gone into great detail about Thor and his...hammer, before," Darcy grimaced, she could appreciate Thor's arms, face and other non-salacious body parts because she wasn't blind, but as far as she was concerned her besties boyfriend was as smooth as a Ken doll down there; dude was like her brother from an alien mother. "But I was forced to go through it if I wanted to make sure that Jane didn't fall off of the damn roof. And trust me; I considered leaving her to fend for herself when she tried to explain how that huge ass baby was supposed to exit her tiny body." Darcy said with another shudder of remembrance. That mental image had stayed with Darcy and made frequent trips to her nightmares. "There are some things that you don't ever need to know and Jane and Thor's reproductive systems are at the top of my fucking list." Darcy declared forcefully and then amended, thoughtfully. "That and how Gummy Bears are made, they tie. When I have babies I want to be able to gorge on those Gummy fuckers without having to worry that they'll make my kid grow a tail or something equally as creepy; gestational diabetes, yes, gummy induced deformities, no." She said seriously and felt Steve's huffed breath of a laugh through her back and against her hair. "Yeah, no matter how cute your kids are gonna be anyway, a Gummy Bear induced tail wouldn't be a good thing." He agreed before shaking his head as Darcy blushed a little at the compliment her yet to be conceived sprog had been given; because yeah, they would be the cutest kids who ever did cute. Darcy was freaking adorable, after all. "Anyway, moving swiftly on from that conversation because I think we can all agree that it only leads to dark, dark places; you need to talk to Thor about his buddies being allowed back to the Tower." Steve said and Darcy nodded decisively; glad for the opportunity to get away from the topic that had her thinking of reinforced change tables and Thor wearing a baby Bjorn. "If I'm being completely honest, I may have missed those three alien miscreants more than I let on, so I'll hear his arguments on the subject, counsellor." Darcy nodded agreeably as she played with his watch; it was just so shiny. Bruce, the secretly freaking loaded scientist, had good taste in Rolex's and Christmas gift giving, it would seem. "But if they cross me again I shall rain hellfire down on them." She added darkly, making Tasha smirk, she would help. "Anymore gossip?" Darcy asked, looking to Maria, this time her face clear of her previous threat. "Preferably something that won't later contribute to my nightmares." When Maria just blank stared her, Darcy went for her best beseeching look. Not nearly as pouty as the one she'd unleashed on Steve, because Maria wasn't as easily swayed by The Pout, but close. "Come on, Maria. Steve's done his duty to this party like the patriotic bastard he is, now's your go; you don't want to let the side down now, do you?" Darcy goaded and Maria narrowed her eyes at the challenge that Darcy knew she couldn't pass up.

"I don't think mine really classifies as gossip for you, Darcy." Maria said after she scowled at Darcy for using her competitiveness against her. "It's more like continuations of conversations that you've already had tonight."

"Then at least I'll have context." Darcy countered with what she hoped was a sweet and endearing smile, but was well aware it probably came across a bit manic. "Spill it."

"Fine," Maria grumped as she turned her head to the side for a moment, looking at Darcy from the corner of her eye before she turned back. "Sif and Phil are going out to dinner tomorrow and Sunday night." She informed and Darcy was silent for a moment so long that Maria ticked an eyebrow at her, before she squealed excitedly, a huge grin on her face. It gained her a few looks from around the room, but she ignored them in favour of the awesome gossip bomb that had just been dropped. This was seriously good news and gossip; Maria had, well and truly, delivered.

"Jesus, Darce." Steve groaned at the piercing sound that obviously hurt his super sense hearing.

"Sorry, Steve," Darcy said a little breathlessly, still grinning as she bought a hand up and put it over his ear for a moment, hoping the heat of her palm would soothe away some of the pain before his serum healing took care of it. "But the Agent and the Asgardian are going on a date," she whisper shouted excitedly. "Two dates, in fact, this is amazing. Do you know how long I have been trying to work my magic there, Steve? Do you?" Darcy asked in quick succession and Steve shook his head as he took her hand from the side of his head and ducked it to talk to her.

"Yes, I am very aware and I am very proud of you and your accomplishments." Steve teased and Darcy pouted at him again before she decided to simply ignore him and his sarcasm as she turned back to Maria. She had more important things to focus on than all too snarky super heroes, like getting all of the details on this date.

"Did he tell you where he's taking her?" Darcy demanded and Maria nodded once.

"To a Spanish restaurant downtown tomorrow and a home cooked meal at his place on Sunday." Maria supplied as she tried to fight a smile at Darcy's enthusiasm. She wasn't overly successful, but Darcy didn't think that she was trying all that hard. Maria and Phil were buds so of course she would be happy that he was happy; or at least on his way to it.

"Oh, he's totally going to get my 'get lucky chocolate mousse' recipe for his home cooking, or I might just make it for him to make sure it's perfect." Darcy said as she bounced on her toes a little, making a mental note to have JARVIS order the ingredients. "This is going to rock." She breathed as she looked over at where Sif and Phil were chatting to Clint still, but Darcy didn't feel the twinge at seeing her ex, just super excited for her friends.

"'Get lucky chocolate mousse'?" Steve asked sceptically and Darcy smirked over her shoulder at him as she looked back.

"It's orgasmic, Steve." Darcy purred seductively and Steve rolled his eyes at her again as he smirked at her antics; used to all of her faux flirting and finding it endearing rather than off putting. That's why it was so awesome to have platonic male friends who were comfortable enough to deal with all of her little eccentricities and not think that she was actually looking to jump his bones. An understanding of feelings between the pair had led to a level of comfortable and comforting tactile intimacy that came from a foundation of great friendship. "Hey, don't knock it until you try it." Darcy play scolded as she nudged her shoulder into his sternum. "It has brandy and popping candy in it. It has never failed me before and I'll be damned if it starts with Phil." Although, to be fair, her only test subject had been Clint and he was always partial to eating it when it was off of Darcy's naked body, so maybe her results were a little skewed. Although if she said that Sif was her recommended method of serving, she was sure Phil would like it just as much.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he's the outlier on your mousse, Darce." Nat said quietly and Darcy turned to look at her friend who she had only just noticed had been silent during that entire exchange.

"No nay saying, Tash," Darcy said wagging a finger, seriously not enjoying her friend's serious face that just spelled opposition, "I've heard it all from Thor and it did not sway me then. Not even when he tried to puppy dog look me. That stopped working after he used it for the third time when trying to get out of doing the dishes. I don't care how old that hunk of man meat is, I will tell Heimdall on his ass again." Darcy said and Tash tilted her head in response to the tangent Darcy had just go on, before shaking it and getting back to the point that Darcy had failed to divert them from. Damn Tash and her laser focus when she was on a mission. Darcy's usual tactics never did fly too far with Tash in the most normal of circumstance.

"No, you heard why Thor thought it wasn't a good idea for Sif to date Phil, not why it wasn't a good idea for Phil to date Sif." Tash pointed out and Darcy narrowed her eyes. She had no idea why Tash was bringing this up now and it really didn't please her, especially as she really had put some actual effort into get this thing for Phil and Sif off of the ground and after the cluster fuck that had been her entire day what with the stalker, Clint coming back and the negotiation shenanigans of not so long ago, she just really wanted to bask in some good news for a little while. Tasha wasn't really making her night all that easier.

"Why shouldn't they give it a go?" Darcy asked, genuinely confused at her resistance to the maybe relationship.

"Darcy, there are a lot of reasons why they shouldn't." Tasha said softly but her eyes had a determined gleam. "They live on different planets, for one thing."

"Thor can take Phil over the rainbow for visits or Jane can open up the skies with her thingamabob and I know Heimdall will let Sif have sneaky trips to Midgard, he's done it before. He is her brother and it's not like she never comes down at all, anyway. They have options and opportunity to see each other." Darcy countered.

Distance was always a bit of a bullshit excuse to Darcy as to why you should end or not start a relationship. There were too many remedies to that problem for it to really impede on something you wanted, as long as the other person wanted it just as much. Skype was a wonderful thing as was having a friend who could open a bi-frost at a moment's notice; so, not really an issue here.

"Until it gets broken again," Tasha said and Darcy gave her an unimpressed look.

"If the bi-frost breaks again I think that we'll have bigger issues to worry about than whether or not Phil can sneak a quickie with his girlfriend." Darcy said blandly before she flicked the hand not laced with Steve's in the air. "Besides, it's not like there aren't other ways around that. Jane can fix it again or Thor can pull another mode of transport from that nifty cape of his. It is doable; there will be no more pining whilst looking up at the night sky for anyone, I had two years of that with Jane in New Mexico and London, and I will not do it again, neither will she. I know for a fact that she has a few ideas on avoiding that unlikely occurrence. I inputted and organised all the data about them." Tasha's head tipped in acknowledgment before she carried on to her next point like the determined super spy she was.

"She's an alien with a good few hundred years on him." Tash said with a quirked eyebrow.

"Doesn't stop Thor and Jane being happy together and age ain't nothing but a thing, chicken wing." Darcy brushed off jovially.

As far as Darcy was concerned as long as the relationship was between two people of consenting age and they weren't actively trying to hurt anyone, then other people should just butt the fuck out. The people on the outside weren't the ones with the feelings so they didn't get an opinion on anything unless explicitly asked. She'd made the same point to Bruce before and she'd make it any time someone had that bullshit excuse at the ready. She and Clint themselves had a decade and a half age difference between them and their relationship had been pretty fucking perfect right up until it wasn't; and Darcy was sure that their age hadn't had anything to do with them ending as it had never been a problem for her and had stopped being a problem for him after a few weeks of being together, as soon as he knew that he was anything but a casual hook up to her and they went into full on exclusive, albeit secret, relationship mode.

"Jane is also a lot younger than Phil, Darcy. She and Thor have time to decide on how to proceed with regards to his extended mortality, Phil doesn't have that; not really." Tash said not allowing her to just disregard something offhand when there was more to it that Darcy didn't want to admit. She didn't like Jane having to make such tough decisions and that it didn't fit with her thinking on her own relationship, or even Bruce's; because they weren't completely the same due to the alien element. Although it could be argued that Bruce's was a little more similar thanks to the Hulk and the unknown of how that effects his life span; whether it will be extended like Thor's or just crap out one day due to the stress of continued low simmering anger and too many transformations. Darcy didn't much like to think about that. It meant facing the uncertainties of Bruce's wellbeing and that made her gut clench with anxiety of losing her friend.

Darcy pushed the feeling away for then and refocused on the conversation she was having because it was important.

"Yeah, Jane is younger compared to him, but it's not like Phil's knocking at death's door...again." Darcy added after a moment of consideration, because die once shame on you, die twice and that's just irresponsible behaviour and your next resurrection will result in a punch in the nose. "And I doubt that Sif, the person with said extended mortality, hasn't thought about that already. If his age or mortality doesn't bother her then we shouldn't let it bother us. Sif already knows that Phil is human and has died once because Loki is an asshole, so I very much doubt that she would have said yes to the date if she didn't really want it, if she didn't think the risk was worth it. Like you said she is like way older and more experienced than us, so I doubt a 22 year old, with a romantic streak really has that much sway in changing her mind on who to date or not."

"Maybe not, but she would listen to a friend, Darcy." Nat said and Darcy shook her head in her not understanding the point. "Sif would take your approval and encouragement to heart, especially as she doesn't exactly have a lot of female friends back on Asgard to turn to for things like this." Tash said and Darcy nodded, getting her point but, surprise surprise, not agreeing with it again.

"Sif knows that I only want her and Phil to be happy, whether that be together or apart, and she also knows that I wouldn't hold it against her or Phil if they decided not to pursue anything other than the friendship that they already have. It's only ever been about the two of them being happy, not validating my own feelings on the two of them being together." Darcy defended but not at all angrily and Tasha nodded.

"I know and so do they, I just don't think that you should diminish the impact your opinion has, Darcy." Tasha said and Darcy frowned.

"I'm not; I just don't think that it's nearly as powerful as you think when it comes to those two." Darcy said, "They're stubborn and they both know their own minds, they wouldn't be so easily persuaded by someone, even knowing it was only with the best of intentions, that's why they would work so well. Plus, I have been trying to get this to happen for months and they've only just gotten their acts together."

"Ok, fine, but Sif's also an alien who can take Thor down." Nat said and Darcy smiled then, because hells yeah Sif could totally kick his ass; she was such a freaking badass and Darcy's huge crush on her showed no signs of lessening, but then shrugged her indifference to Tash's argument.

"So? Again Jane and Thor deal with that I'm sure that Phil can give it a go. If anything that's a plus in the pro column of why they would work; Especially for Phil. What has been the one thing that has stopped Phil from dating in the past?" Darcy asked Tash but Maria answered instead.

"That a civilian would become a target and would get hurt to get to him and he didn't want to date within the agency with all the problems that could cause." She said and Darcy nodded her, mind going towards the ill-fated romance with The Cellist, Audrey Nathan and how badly that had all ended, what with him dying and all the angst afterwards.

"Phil needs someone who knows his life, his work, who understands it, can protect themselves against threats but doesn't work for him or has to answer to him. Sif is that and more for him." Darcy said; she would never lessen what Audrey and Phil had had but there was only so far that they could go without some serious compromise on both sides and Phil putting her in more danger than he would ever willingly put a civilian into, especially if he loved them; even if she were more than willing to deal with it, the guilt would eat at him.

"But is Phil that for Sif?" Tasha asked and Darcy resisted rolling her eyes at how stubborn Nat was being; love and exasperation coming to her mind again.

"She seems to think so if she agreed to not one but two dates in as many days." Darcy argued. "Sif is a smart woman who needs someone just as smart to challenge her and if that's anyone it's Phil." and Tash sighed, her argument losing vigor.

"What any kind of real future do they have together, Darce?" Tasha asked even though the look on her face said that it pained her to ask.

Darcy knew that Natasha loved Phil and only wanted the best for him for all that he had done for her, and her doing this was her trying to protect his heart in something that she could only see ending up badly, not being difficult for the sake of it. Tasha had the tendency to only see the negative outcomes after all her years planning missions and having an alphabet of alternative plans when something, inevitably in her mind, went wrong. She could be even worse when it came to personal entanglements; over-thinking things until she had completely talked herself out of it before even giving it a go, even friendships especially relationships, so Darcy always tried hard to be the little positive voice to combat that part of her that she knew that Tash didn't particularly like encroaching from her professional life to her personal.

"Whatever one they want enough to work for," Darcy said with a small smile. "Sif and Phil are not dumb dumbs, every issue that we just thought up I'm sure that so have they and yet they still want to try. I'm not even saying that they will work out in the end; I'm only saying that just because you can't guarantee something lasting forever doesn't meant you shouldn't try and enjoy it while you have it, or even just the possibility of it. You do that and that's how you miss out on things; good things that could make you really happy." Darcy said paraphrasing what she had told Bruce earlier. Shit like that was easily transferable and Darcy didn't mind plagiarizing herself.

"Even if in the end it makes you miserable?" Steve asked suddenly and Darcy squeezed his hand as she tipped her head back to look up at him.

"Especially if, you only know that you're miserable because you've been truly happy before. You can't have one without the other; it's the flipside of the same coin." Darcy said and with what she had been through with her parents' divorce and then recently with Clint, she knew that. She had witnessed her parents' devolution of happiness to intense hate and she knew that she was only as heartbroken as she was because of how happy she had been with him in the first place. Well that and that he had handled everything with a distinct lack of tact and respect to what their relationship had been. She also knew that Steve knew that, he was unhappy being in the present when the past had made him happy but he was getting past it.

"I'm not going to change your mind on this, am I?" Tasha asked as she turned her head in the direction that Sif and Phil were still talking with Barton a small frown furrowing her brow.

"Nope," Darcy popped. "But I promise you can tell me you 'told you so' if this thing blows up in my face and we're having to fix the crushed souls of Asgardian and Agent Heart Eyes over there, but I reserve the same right to do the same if it doesn't and we have to learn more about Asgardian matrimonial procedures than what I already know from Thor." Darcy said as she held her hand out for Tash to shake. Nat shook her head but smiled as she swapped her glass into her other hand and clasped Darcy's for a firm shake.

"Deal," Tash agreed. "You really think those two would walk down the aisle or whatever it is Asgardians do? Riding on some sort of goat chariot sounds more likely." Nat pondered and Darcy laughed.

"I think that we should support them in whatever they want to do," Darcy said after she got over the mental image of what a 'goat chariot' would look like. Cute, she decided, it would be cute. "Dating does not have to mean a lifetime commitment, it can just be two people enjoying each other's company," Then she grinned devilishly and added. "And maybe having hot, hot sex; I really do need to tell Sif about the delicacies of the human body, no sex induced injuries for Phil if I can prevent it." Darcy couldn't resist teasing and Maria groaned in disgust.

"Oh, Darcy, what is the hell is the matter with you?" Maria asked as she frowned her distaste at the mental image she just got forced on her. Darcy imagined that it was a lot less cute than the 'goat chariot' she'd been thinking of, she was sure.

"So many, many things," Darcy replied airily smiling when Steve chuckled behind her. "But seriously, we should leave them to it now; I led those horses to water and now it's their decision to drink or not."

"Did you just compare Agent Coulson and Sif to horses?" Steve asked and Darcy couldn't resist it. Really she couldn't. It was all set up like at a T – Ball game and she had been a fucking legend at peewee Baseball.

"I did just compare Phil to a horse, yes Steve, but only in the ways that matter; only in the ways that matter." She enunciated slowly and this time everyone groaned as Darcy cackled at her not at all covert innuendo about Phil's end-o.

"You're the worst." Maria griped at yet another unwanted mental image assailing her and Darcy grinned her agreement of the assessment.

"Yes, yes I am." Darcy nodded. "And that was for the fact that that particular conversation didn't really qualify as 'idle party chit chat', thanks for sprinkling it with all that angst there, Tash, I hope you enjoy the picture your mind just created for you as punishment," Tasha scowled and Darcy winked at her.

"Anyway," Tash said still scowling. "We will all leave them alone," Nat agreed after a moment even if she didn't look all that happy about doing so, but that could still could have been about thinking about Phil and Sif getting it on, and then she ticked an eyebrow. "Well, most of us, I can almost guarantee that Stark will poke at him just because he can."

Darcy just shrugged, Phil could handle that and she was sure that Sif could do a thing or two to dissuade too much teasing from Stark. Darcy just hoped it would be done in a JARVIS recording area, for posterity's sake of the time Tony got his ass kicked by Sif; it would make her unreasonably happy and she would watch it constantly.

"If Tony wants to risk being punched by an Asgardian defending her man, then let him, he'd deserve it." Darcy disregarded the concern, she would always protect Tony because she loved the bozo, but sometimes he needed to be taught a lesson. She then turned back to Maria. "Care to try again, Maria." Darcy asked and Maria frowned.

"Steve only had to think of one topic. Why do I have to do more?" She asked slightly on the huffy side to Darcy's slight surprise and she shrugged.

"Steve breaks out in hives if he thinks himself to be ungallant for too long, I'm saving him from the aloe vera application later." Darcy heard, and ignored, Steve's long suffering sigh and said. "And please, Maria, you love talking about other people; this is a lot less of a predicament for you than it is to big and blond's chivalry." Maria tilted her head in acknowledgment and then smiled a little before speaking.

"Bruce followed through on your advice." Maria said and Darcy's grin actually hurt her cheeks at how big it was; this little dating gossip had somehow made her happier than Phil and Sif's had. She'd been working on both for nearly the same amount of time but Bruce's personal development was a lot more profound and thus meant a lot more to her.

"He told you?" Darcy asked quietly and Maria nodded. Even that had Darcy doing a happy dance inside. Bruce had willingly opened up to someone about his personal life beyond her or Tony, without being prompted by either and she was thrilled about it.

"Yeah, he told me everything before Tony came over and started whinging. He's really excited. Good job, Darce." Maria complimented and Darcy rolled her hand at the wrist in an overly flourished salute from her forehead in acknowledgement to her achievement.

"Why, thank you." Darcy preened, not fake preened but actual full on preened, because yeah, good freaking job, Darce.

"What are we missing here?" Steve asked as he smoothed a curl on Darcy's head that just wouldn't leave his face alone.

"Bruce finally called Callie and they're going on a date tomorrow." Maria said and Tasha groaned in happiness.

"Oh, thank God." She breathed."One more Thursday night of having to watch the two of them moon over each other and I was going to have to Widow Bite myself; Or them; probably them and that would just cause a Hulk attack and then we would have to find a new place to drink as a group and I would have to do a lot of paperwork that I really didn't want to have to deal with." Nat said and Darcy laughed at the seriousness that she spoke in as she felt Steve chuckle at her back, while Maria smiled.

"So that was why he was grinning like a Cheshire cat on the balcony." Steve said as he smiled over at Bruce. "To be fair, I would be to if I had a date with Callie, she's lovely." Steve praised and Darcy nodded vigorously.

"She is and he deserves it." Darcy said as she too looked over to where Bruce was still talking to Pepper and Tony, a smile on his face that Darcy could get used to seeing a lot more of. He was happy, like actually happy and it made her heart burst.

"Do you know what they're going to do?" Nat asked as she sipped her drink.

"A matinee, lunch at that bistro he and Clint like to go to together and a walk in the park," Maria ticked off on her hand as Darcy looked back to her and Tasha nodded her head agreeably.

"Perfect first date, especially for someone who can't really do the whole high stress thing;" Tash said as she turned to Darcy. "Your doing?" She asked and Darcy tipped her head side to side in thought.

"The movie and food was, Despicable Me is playing and I told him to take her because of the-"

"Ringtone," Maria, Steve and Tash said at the same time and Darcy smiled, glad she wasn't the only one who had seen that and found it stupidly adorable.

"Seemed appropriate, they both already love it and like you said less stress when it's something he knows they both like." Darcy said. "The place and the walk in the park were all his choice though. I just sowed the seeds." Darcy said as she made a sprinkling motion with her fingers, in the air.

"You put some actual thought into these pairings, didn't you?" Steve asked with a creased brow and Darcy frowned a little up at him in response.

"Of course I have. Didn't you hear my carefully thought out and profound argument for Phil and Sif, earlier? I don't just push people together willy nilly, Steve." Darcy said, maybe a little offended by the assertion that she had done just that even with all of the evidence to the contrary. "I don't just barge into people's lives and insist that they get down and dirty. They first have to show a mutual attraction but an unwillingness to pursue it and I have to personally approve of the union if I'm to help or I'll half ass it and that's not fair to them. If they meet all of those criteria, then I barge into their lives and insist they get down and dirty. Only I do so with more nuance and with as much subtlety that I can muster, which admittedly isn't a lot, but enough to get my point across without scaring the shit out of my emotionally repressed friends." And Steve smiled down at her although she thought a little sadly, for what she didn't know, but then again a lot of Steve's smiles held an edge of melancholia and she knew him well enough that he would talk about it when ready.

"Well, it looks like your match making has finally borne fruit. Maybe you should make a career out of it." And Darcy snorted her offence at his momentary doubt in her abilities to be a good wing- man assuaged although her worry hadn't been, his obvious diversion only increasing it.

"I already have too many career prospects to think about, thanks." Darcy said unthinkingly, as she wanted to assist in his avoidance, and she stilled for a moment as Steve looked at her, frown on his face. He opened his mouth to speak but Darcy just widened her eyes and barrelled on over him. "Anyway, I don't think that I have enough friends with repressed sexual tension between them to make a decent enough living out of it, if I'm honest. I think I'll stick to getting paid for lessening the fires that Tony causes for the time being." Darcy said hurriedly and of course that's the moment that Tony decided to come back over. It was like he had a homing beacon for conversations that he could make uncomfortable and Darcy had never been more grateful for it as it took Steve's attention off of her, her slip up and his sudden sadness. Her talk with Pepper could not come quickly enough so she would have one less thing to keep to herself.

"Fire is a sign of progress, Lewis." Tony said to Darcy for the thousandth time and it was the thousandth time that she had rolled her eyes at that excuse for carelessness with his own safety, although he was more careful when she and Jane were in the labs, he wasn't a complete asshole.

"If that were true Tony, we would be, like, decades more advanced than we are with the amount that poor Dum – E has to put out on the daily; Like, have made up for the Dark Ages, caught up." Darcy snarked and Tony smiled a smile that Darcy was powerless to respond to in kind. She liked genuinely making Tony happy and not just the facade that he kept up for show. She knew how exhausting that could be and he had been doing it for decades longer than she had.

"True enough," He conceded but then held up a finger, "although I take issue with 'poor Dum-E' he's lucky if he puts out a fifth of the fires I cause. I swear he does it to get to me, but I will not be defeated by one of my own creations, I bought him into this world I can just as easily dismantle him and make something better. Like a Roomba or a stylish umbrella holder." Tony threatened without heat, Dum-E would forever be safe, Tony loved him too much to ever part with the batty bot. He shook his head grumbling about perfect circuitry and imperfect results, before looking around the group and asking, "Who has repressed sexual tension?" because he was not going to let a topic like that one slide by, as he narrowed his eyes at Steve's arm around Darcy's shoulders and their linked fingers as she rested leisurely against him. "I swear to God if you say you two, I'm going to hurl myself out of that window, no super soldier assistance needed, because no." Tony threatened as he pointed a hand holding more champagne to the balcony, narrowing his eyes and lowering his voice in a disgusted whisper. "Just no." And Darcy rolled her eyes again. Seriously her eyes were going to end up facing the wrong way if she kept that shit up.

"What about that," Tasha said as she motioned to all of Steve and Darcy's positioning, "Is in the least bit suggestive of 'repressed sexual tension'?" Tash asked and Tony threw his narrowed eyes at her.

"He's all draped over her and hand hold-y, it's so PG I bet it's his version of foreplay." Tony said with an unhappy curl of his lips. Steve just sighed as Darcy shook her head; Tony's over protectiveness of Darcy and the men folk she associated herself with came about out the oddest of times; Fandral she could understand, even Logan because he was always super flirty and a little on the dangerous side, but her and Steve were friends-close friends who had no qualms about hugging and leaning all against each other and who's butt she could touch, but friends were all they were- and Tony knew that, everyone knew that, so she knew that he was just out to cause trouble.

He also knew that his continued assertion that Steve was some blushing virgin was complete bullshit. Darcy may have set up the adult pay per view channels in his rooms but that was more to show off the variety 70 years in ice had denied him and that missionary wasn't the only position (also so much shits and giggles) in preparation for his sex date with one of the girls that he had dated when he and Darcy had first become friends. Not that he had called it that, because he was a classy guy, but dinner at her place after five good dates was freaking obvious code for 'Steve was gonna get some of the good stuff'. Steve had then come back the next morning whistling in the clothes he was wearing the night before looking decidedly wrinkled, so she was pretty sure he'd gotten some serious action from just that alone.

That and the fact that Clint had told her that Steve had told him that he had; along with Hawkeye's own reconnaissance on the woman and the huge hickey she had been sporting with pride.

So, yeah, Darcy wasn't sure where Tony's need to stir shit up had come from, other than his usual propensity for troublemaking, but she suspected it had a lot to do with how much he had had to drink if the glassiness of his eyes was any indicator. She then squeezed Steve's hand when she felt him shift a little behind her, reminding him that hurting Tony wasn't an option, no matter how weird and rude he was being. Darcy was used to the whiplash inducing change of Tony's moods and could handle it, Steve not so much.

"Shouldn't you be off making Pepper reconsider her accepting your proposal of marriage?" Steve asked instead of his more violent option, making no move whatsoever to remove himself from around Darcy and neither did she; she liked platonic draping Damnit, and the Steve Rogers variety was exactly the right mix of manly, friendly and comforting. But Darcy couldn't help but think that getting into a war of words with Tony was not a good idea for Steve. He was an excellent talker but unlike Tony and even herself, he would not go for the vulnerable spots to get the upper hand, so he was perpetually disadvantaged against the likes of the Stark and Lewis brand of scathing snark and sarcasm.

"She sent me away so her and Bruce could have their 'alone time' and talk about his date tomorrow; apparently my suggestion of taking the banging blonde waitress to that sushi place where you eat your meal off of naked people and the servers are all topless was 'unhelpful', 'unsanitary' and 'just asking for slap'." Tony said with a roll of his eyes and then Tasha smacked on the back of the head. "Ow!" he all but screeched as he automatically reached for the sore spot.

"You did say that you were asking for it." Darcy said as she fought to stifle a laugh at the look of outrage Tony had on his face. Maria and Steve weren't so considerate and were openly grinning. Rude people were rude.

"I said that Pepper said I was." Tony disagreed emphatically as he rubbed the back of his head and pouted, glaring at Tash who just smiled serenely back.

"And Pepper is always right. You know this by now. If she says that you probably needed a slap then you probably needed a slap." Darcy pointed out and Tony huffed. He knew she was right and that fact could not be argued with. Pepper had the quality, that should really be annoying but wasn't coming from her, that she was consistently right on everything and anything and that was why she and Tony worked so well, because he was always wrong about everything and anything. It was also why Darcy was going to her about the X-Men job offer. If anyone knew the right thing to do, or at least the right advice to give, it would be that truly spectacular woman whom Darcy, at times, thought might not be real with all her perfectness.

"Whatever, not the point," Tony said as he rolled his neck of any residual pain that a Nat whack left, which, according to Clint and every bad guy to ever cross her, was really fucking painful. "'Repressed sexual tension?'" Tony said again with a look in his eye that Darcy did not like one bit as he looked at Steve. It spelt trouble with a capital 'Fuck you Steve'. And if by the way his frame straightened, Steve knew it too. "If we're not talking about him and Lewis, thank God for small mercies, is it about the Cap and Agent Nepotism?" And there was the reason that she didn't like it. Darcy tensed immediately and she felt Steve go still behind her as his hand tightened around hers.

Sharon Carter was not a person to bring up in Darcy's presence, or Jane and Thor's for matter either. They had all found out six months after living in the Tower, that she had been the reason that Erik had been deemed too much of a security risk to work and live with her Jane and Thor in New York, making it so his Visa was denied, after his stint in a mental hospital, and the only reason they had agreed on the separation in the end was because Erik was better and had insisted they grab the opportunity with both hands as he stayed in London and that he got to keep Ian.

So, they were not her biggest fans and it was only made worse as Steve obviously was, always arguing that she was just doing her job and not that she was just an unfeeling, stone cold bitch, the topic was always put away as to avoid any blow ups that would inevitably happen. The one big argument (that had lasted three weeks, with deafening silence or screaming matches and a lot of uncomfortable family dinners) that Darcy and Steve had ever had was about Sharon Carter and Darcy did not want to rehash it just then. It was painful and rage inducing.

It was also a problem that Darcy and Steve had never fully reconciled over, because it had all been swept under the rug after Steve had gotten seriously injured during a fight with Doom and his super healing wasn't working efficiently for a few days. He had been in so much pain that Darcy had just shoved everything to the side, deeming it unimportant in the face of her friend's hurt, and spent three days on the medical floor with him, swapping with Jane (who also shoved down her anger at him) and Pepper every now and then so she could shower or change and full on leaving when Sharon showed up only to return when JARVIS said she'd left, as his bones literally snapped back into place, his organs repaired themselves and his skin knitted back together uncomfortably; the pain medicine barely touching the sides because of his metabolism.

Darcy would try to distract him with things on Tumblr that made her laugh and whatever really bad TV was on as she did a running commentary on why it sucked so good, and when that didn't work she would just climb into his bed and stroke his hair or wipe his brow with a cold compress. Once he was better they just never talked about the rift that had happened, but it had always been in the periphery and they both ignored it, choosing to allow it to linger because neither wanted to be the one to bring it up as the outcome was less than certain; which she's realizing may have been a mistake, now that Tony was using it as a kick in the face.

"Tony." Tasha warned, quietly as she looked between Darcy and Steve warily. She knew just how bad this fight could get and just how fast it could happen. Although she had stayed out of the argument, being friends of them both and not personally effected by the lack of Erik, Tash did get involved to try and diffuse arguments when they verged on going too far. But Tony either didn't hear her or more likely didn't care to listen, revelling in the obvious tension he had intentionally caused.

"Come on, Cap, that was her you had brunch with today wasn't it?" Tony carried on and Darcy turned her body to look up at Steve so she was no longer leaning against him, his presence no longer as comforting as it had been a moment before. She also thought that she may have known why he had looked so sad about her helping couples get it together, knowing that the two of them wouldn't be one she supported. Steve wasn't looking at her though; he just had clenched his jaw so tight that it must have hurt his eyes solely on Tony, but not letting go of her hand, which was telling. "Sure as hell looked like her, looked like her even more when you kissed her. Has she darkened her hair?" Tony asked cattily in veiled reference to Peggy being a brunette and Sharon's aunt, and Darcy's face went blank as old anger welled within her and Maria actually growled.

"Seriously, Tony, you thought that it was really a good idea to bring Sharon up?" Maria asked as she glowered at him and Darcy closed her eyes. Darcy didn't think Tony thought bringing her up had anything to do with him thinking it was a good idea, but rather the amount he'd had to drink, the fact that Steve hadn't had his back earlier about Tasha leaving with Darcy and Darcy leaving in general. She had known and expected that he was going to act up; she just didn't expect Tony to do it such a malicious way.

Although maybe she should have, Tony didn't handle hurt well and was known to lash out against those who had caused it. But he was usually passive aggressive in his revenge, whilst this was just plain aggressive and mean spirited, even for Tony. Even more so that it was aimed at Darcy as well as Steve, who was well used to it by that point.

When he had shouted at her the day before it was because he had been mistaken at what she was telling him, but this was him being purposefully hurtful and Darcy wanted nothing to do with it, him or the conversation at large; And especially not Steve, at that moment in time.

She had wanted to have fun at the party that Tony had forced on her Dammit and the only way to achieve that, apparently, was to get as far away from this as she could. The hurt of being separated from Erik wasn't something she wanted added to her plate, so Darcy refused to see this as running but rather falling back on what Tasha had said in the elevator and knowing how much she could handle, and she couldn't handle this; not right then.

Darcy opened her eyes, quietly cleared her throat and wiggled her hand free of Steve's as she took another step away from him and towards Tash, who had been switching between what looked like she was trying to kill Tony with the her brain and giving Darcy concerned glances, letting Darcy take the lead on how to proceed. "And I think that's my cue to go and say hello to Jane and Thor." She said, but, as she was about to walk towards her other friends and hopefully more fun times, Steve caught her arm and stopped her.

"Darce," He started but stopped when Darcy turned to look at him with a cool expression on her face. She shook her head and he sighed as he let his hand drop loosely to his side. "We can't keep ignoring it, especially not now." Steve tried and Darcy smiled frostily in response.

Now he wanted to sort it out because he was seeing the ice queen and wanted things easy for himself, not to improve his relationship with her, Jane or Thor. If she'd thought him selfish when they'd first argued all those months before, she thought him even more so now. Well screw him then, nope, not happening. She had been willing to leave and calm down so not to aggravate old wounds, but not now.

"Of course we can, have been for five months why should that change just because you have bad judgement on whom you attach your mouth to, these days." Darcy shot back, viciously, ignoring the gleeful widening of Tony's eyes. Steve licked and bit his lower lip, his eyes hardening as they backslid to where they had been when they had the argument the first time but Darcy couldn't find it in herself to care. She was well aware that her being a bitch about a secret relationship was ridiculous, but at least in her case Steve actually liked Clint.

"That was uncalled for." he said lowly and Darcy shrugged, dismissively as she hummed.

"I don't think so, but I do think that I have been a bad party guest and should go mingle." Darcy said airily as she backed away a little further from him. "Maybe you should call Sharon to come keep you company, that is if JARVIS lets her in the building. I think that he has protocols about not letting pure evil have free reign in the Tower," Again, ignoring Tony and his declaration that he had 'missed bitchy Lewis.' In the mood she was in if he wanted to see 'bitchy Lewis' she could let it loose.

Steve opened his mouth to respond, fire in his eyes, but Darcy turned away from him, smiled and nodded at Maria in goodbyes, who just frown/smiled back at her, obviously not sure on how to react. Darcy knew that Maria also liked Sharon, that they worked together and had SHIELD nights out, the only difference with Steve being it had never devolved into a fight between the two of them, oh, and she also wasn't secretly tonguing her after a brunch date.

Darcy was about to just flat out ignore Tony for causing this, but then she noticed the nearly full glass of champagne in his hand and changed her mind; she really wanted a fucking drink. Turning her body towards him, back to Steve still, she plucked the drink from his fingers and said. "Mine now, and if you think that Pepper isn't going to find out about this you are dead wrong." Darcy promised as he raised an eyebrow at her. "She is going to have your ass, and not in any fun way." With that threat delivered, she looked away and called over to Pepper. "Pep, sorry to interrupt," Darcy said when Pepper looked up with a smile from her conversation with Bruce across the room. "But Tony's about to get his face punched in by Steve. If you like it the way it is, you might want to stop that from happening, although after what he just pulled maybe a few whacks would be educational." Pepper sighed then, hung her head with closed eyes before she nodded back a grimace gracing her pretty face, apologised to Bruce, who smiled and shook his head as he motioned over to Phil that he would talk to them as Pepper stalked over, scowling at Tony.

As soon as Pepper was at Tony's side, hissing for him not to speak until spoke to; Darcy knew that Steve wouldn't be violent. He respected Pepper too much and what with the dormant Extremis in her system probably didn't want to risk getting his ass kicked in kind, not that Darcy would be adverse to having that happen right then. Knowing everyone was safe and Pepper could defuse the situation, as she had so much practice, Darcy walked away with purpose from what was about to go down and what she wanted no part of, pulling Tash by the hand along with her, but not before hearing Steve hiss, 'Thank you, Stark, really. What the hell is the matter with you?' and Tony's reply of, 'what? It was a valid question, not my fault that honesty and loyalty seems to be difficult for you when Carter: The Next Generation is involved.' showing no remorse whatsoever for the part he had played in restarting an old argument. Darcy took a long drink of her champagne as she reached Jane and Thor, Tasha at her side who was quickly occupied by Jane throwing herself at her in greeting.

"Hey guys." Darcy said with a small smile at Drunk!Jane's openly affectionate love for Nat that wasn't nearly as physical when sober.

"Ah, Lady Darcy," Thor said warmly as he bowed slightly at her. Darcy's smile grew and she returned his greeting in kind with a small curtsey, making him grin. "And Sister warrior, Natasha, it is of great relief to have you home," and Tasha smiled with an incline of her head as she couldn't do much more with an armful of drunk scientist, as Jane was being an inebriated octopus in greeting. "It is good to see you both, how have the festivities found you?" He asked Darcy as he turned from Jane and Nat, with a warm smile for his pixie girlfriend all but mauling a world renowned assassin in happiness of having her friend back and Darcy shrugged.

"It has certainly been festive." Darcy said enigmatically, not wanting to get into it all and Jane groaned long and loud making Darcy jump at the noise, not thinking that she would have been able to concentrate on two things at one in her state.

"That means that it sucks." Jane slurred slightly as she leant a little against Nat and Darcy frowned. "That's what you do when something isn't going well and you don't want to be rude or you don't want to talk about it or you don't believe what you're saying. You repeat back what was said to you." And Darcy's eyebrow raised; apparently drunken Jane was a lot more willing to voice her observations on Darcy's behaviour. "So what is it, Darce?" she asked and Darcy sighed.

"Nothing that has to be discussed right now," she tried to placate, but Jane shook her head, vehemently, obviously making herself dizzy when Tash had to steady her.

"Nope, it does because you're not enjoying yourself and it's your party and you should be." Jane disagreed as she looked back to where it was obvious that Tony and Steve were arguing in hushed tones and that Pep and Maria were trying to play mediator. "Does it have anything to do with how Steve looks like steam is about to come out of his ears? Or that Stark has his douche face on?" when Darcy didn't reply Jane narrowed her eyes dangerously and Darcy had to resist the urge to take a step away from her; Jane could be stupidly scary. "I can ask Thor to listen in, if you don't want to answer. I'm starting to think that the only way that I'm going to get you to really talk to me at all is if I do sneak-y spy stuff. Maybe if I was more like Tash you would talk to me." Jane said sulkily as her eyes went from dangerous to sad in a split second and Darcy's heart clenched, hard. Drunk!Jane could either be the funniest thing to happen or the most honest as her brain couldn't split focus on more than one emotion at once; and at that moment it was how Darcy's lies and distance from her had hurt her.

"There is only one Natasha Romanov," Darcy said and at Jane's pained look Darcy rolled her eyes affectionately as she continued her thought. "Just like there is only one Jane Foster. You're both my girls. I love you, Janie, you know that." Jane still didn't look completely convinced, but maybe a little more mollified.

She knew that Jane found it hard to share her sometimes, that she missed when it had been the two of them on a roof somewhere, but Darcy honestly thought things were better now that Thor was with them permanently and Jane had more friends outside of her and Erik to socialise with. It was one of the only reasons that she seriously thought that she could take the X-Men job, because Jane wouldn't be alone surrounded by friends and people who cared for her.

Darcy looked to Thor for assistance, but he just had the same look on his face from the day before when he had told her that she could talk to him and she had refused. It seemed he was having the same thoughts as Jane. Darcy squirmed for a moment, looking to Tash who just quirked an eyebrow that told her to 'woman up' so she just decided to bite the fucking bullet and that if she was going to make anything better she was going to need to start being more honest. She sighed and decided to go with the most recent thing that had made Darcy's night less than enjoyable and the reason she had walked away, looking at Jane she said. "Tony bought up Sharon Carter."

Jane stilled for a moment before she threw some major shade at Tony and Steve over her shoulder so quickly at the mention, that she stumbled a little in her high heels and Tash had to steady her with a hand to her arm, again. "Ugh, why?" she asked in obvious disgust and Darcy shrugged hiding a smile as she obviously forgot about her previous hurt.

"It would seem that Stark spied her and Steve after a date today, kissing." Darcy informed and Jane frowned deeply.

"Ew." Was all she said to Darcy who nodded emphatically as she slipped her drink again, Tasha hiding a smile as Jane then started to whisper to her about how awful she felt Sharon to be. Drunk!Jane was also not a forgiving person and had no foibles in letting her displeasure known.

"Steven and Sharon Carter are secretly intimately involved?" Thor asked Darcy and she nodded again. "I must say that I am dismayed by this." Thor admitted solemnly. "But we must treat this subject with care, no matter our feelings on this person." And Darcy frowned, which made Thor smile softly. "Lady Darcy, you more than any of us is close to Steven, and you more than any of us know how alone he can feel. If Sharon Carter brings him some comfort we should support it."

"After what she did to Erik and the way he was when everything went down?" Darcy snorted before she said, "I don't think so, plus she's just so..." Darcy trailed off with an overload of not so nice words to describe the woman in discussion.

"That is because we only see her in the confines of what she did to our family and nothing else." Thor reasoned and Darcy nodded a little. He was right, she did only see Sharon in that way after everything had come to light and she made no effort to change that. "But if Steven sees something in her to garner his attentions and affections, then there has to something worthy in her to deserve it." Thor took a step toward her and bowed his head slightly. "I am no great advocate for agent Carter, but for Steven I am willing to try." He said softly.

Darcy sighed as she took a sneaky glance at Steve over her shoulder, who was in deep discussion with Pepper, a sulky looking Tony next to them as Maria spoke in hushed tones. "Why? It's not like he tried that with us." Darcy said heatedly when she turned back to Thor, only calming when he gave her a look that he wasn't the enemy, she sighed. "He didn't even try and see it from our point of view even though he was in the perfect position to do so after Bucky and that shit storm." Darcy said sadly. "For a guy who has lost so many people, then to have one back but a little worse for wear, you would have thought that he could have at least of acknowledged what we were losing because he understood, instead he called on protocol and procedure in her defence." Darcy's mouth twisted up a little and Thor put a hand on her shoulder. "He just stuck up for her, the entire time even after I never left his when we were battling for Bucky, how none of us did. I didn't like who he was when he was with her, Thor." Darcy admitted and Thor frowned. "Did you? Can you truly say that everything between the two of you is ok? That you've forgiven them?"

"Maybe things will be different this time." He offered without answering which was answer enough, Darcy shook her head.

"I doubt it. He doesn't want to talk now because it's what's best for everyone else, he wants to talk about it is because Tony blabbed like a big mouth and he doesn't want things awkward for her if we happen to come across each other when they're all couple-y and shit. When it comes to her, he gets selfish."

"Maybe or maybe it's because he doesn't want things to be awkward with you and risk losing you more than he already has. You were the most vocal in opposition to what had arisen, you took the mantle and voiced our displeasure and hurt and it was aimed at Steven just as his was voiced at you. But we weren't the only ones hurting, Lady Darcy." Thor said and Darcy tilted her head to the side in question. "Steven was miserable during those weeks of arguing with us, according to Clinton and Natasha," Thor said with a nod at the woman who looked like she was engrossed in listening to Jane complain about Sharon, but was also listening to what she and Thor were saying. "He spent his days in the gyms or drawing not talking to anyone other than when it was to argue with you and sometimes Jane."

"Or you." Darcy defended herself and Jane because it wasn't like Thor hadn't called the thunder a few times during his words with Steve.

"Or myself," He conceded with a grim smile at his loss of control, "But then he was injured and you cared for him when he was weak and vulnerable, you showed he still mattered even if you were angered with him, and then after he was recuperated maybe he didn't want to take the chance at losing you once more so he didn't bring it up again, especially with you leaving for your new home which lessens his chances of making things right if you are at odds once more. You care for him as he cares for you and he doesn't wish to lose it."

Darcy's shoulders slumped a little and Thor took his hand away as he nudged the pearl drop earring she was wearing. A Gift she's gotten from Steve because she was 'awesome' and her heart softened, slightly. She'd hated arguing with her friend and with everything else going on in her life; she really couldn't see the value in perpetuating an old fight about a person who made someone she cared for happy but she was still hurt, still angry. "I don't want that either." Darcy admitted and Thor nodded.

"Then you know what must be done." He intoned and Darcy groaned dramatically making him chuckle.

"Yes," she hissed, "I have to talk to Steve, sort everything out so he knows I still love him loads despite his bad taste and unfair, hypocritical and douche-y double standards and try to find out something about the ice bitch that would make me not hate her; or at least not as much for the sake of my friendship with him. How easy a task, that is, because I don't have enough shit to deal with." Darcy grumped.

"And maybe you should think of where your anger is being aimed." Thor suggested softly making Darcy frown. She was about to ask what he meant even though she could feel her mind connecting the dots for her, just as Tash spoke up.

"Magnets." And Darcy blinked then narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"Have you just developed some science specific Tourette's? Because I already have people that shout at me in science terms, Tash, I don't think I can handle another."

Nat just rolled her eyes. "Sharon likes magnets like you do." Tash elaborated and Darcy's eyes widened in recognition and surprise. She and Darcy had something in common, the knowledge made Darcy feel dirty somehow. "Everywhere she's stationed she gets a magnet. Her metal surfaces are covered, every inch."

"What like her body made of iron, because she's an unfeeling robot?" Darcy asked and Thor poked her shoulder in rebuke. She pouted at him but he just gave her a look that said 'Now, be nice.' Darcy just huffed a breath, but nodded that she'd be good, as she turned back to Tash. Jane was too busy concentrating on her drink as she swirled it in her glass, to pay attention. "Magnets," Darcy repeated slowly, letting the concept meld, before nodding her head. "I can work with that, thank you." Darcy thought for a few seconds as she catalogued her collection before asking, "You think she'd like my Teletubbies set? I have two lots of them, she can have one." Darcy asked and Nat smirked.

"You think Tinky-Winky is going to heal all wounds?" she asked, amusement in her voice.

"No, but I think Po might, that little red bastard is cute as shit and should be able to melt the heart of even that Ice queen." Darcy said, her love for the tubby fucks only growing since she saw them during her time in England, and then tilted her head to the side, pursing her lips. "I should probably start calling her Sharon first, though, huh? Either that or decide if she's made of ice on the inside or metal and circuitry. It could get confusing otherwise; And offensive to JARVIS, whom I love dearly." Darcy said up to the ceiling and made a kiss-y face, not wanting to diminish him with her hate on for Sharon Carter.

"Probably a better start than magnets of late nineties, British, children's TV shows," Tasha agreed faux solemnly when she looked back down.

"Yeah," Darcy breathed out, "although she is still getting the magnet, you press the sun baby and it laughs. It's adorable." Tasha smirked and Darcy looked back to Thor, narrowing her eyes at the proud look on his face. "Yeah, ok, Big Guy, lap it up. Your advice just resulted in some pretty weighty personal growth over here; you can be smug about it, though maybe not too smug, I haven't actually been nice to her yet."

"I am not smug Lady Darcy, I am proud of you," Thor said as he chucked her under the chin. "You are the finest of young women and I have a great amount of pride in seeing you develop so, seeing you venture out on your own and now showing your ability to forgive, even just in intent."

"What do people say about good intentions?" Darcy asked out loud even when she knew the answer.

"The road to hell is paved with them." Tash intoned and Darcy tilted her head in example at Thor.

"A way to hell or not, it still gives me great heart and makes me proud to call you sister."

Darcy smiled shyly at him as she leant up and kissed him on the cheek, resolutely battling back the touched tears. "And for you, I promise to try my hardest to make thing better with Steve and Sharon. It's what you do for family." She whispered in his ear. She settled back on her heels and Thor looked distinctly misty eyed too, but Darcy pretended not to see.

"How did Tony even know about Steve's date with the ice bitch?" Jane asked loudly as her drunkenness had evidently left her without volume control. Darcy winced and didn't dare look as to whether Steve heard or not as she was almost certain that he had if Tony's snort and subsequent yelp was anything to go by. When Jane was sober, Darcy and Thor were going to have to sit her down and discuss the concept of forgiveness. She doubted it would go well.

"Indoor voice, Jane," Tasha reminded quietly in example and Jane nodded sloppily, some of her hair escaping the up 'do that Pepper had created.

"How?" She asked again but at a more socially acceptable level although the damage had already been done and her whisper shouting now wasn't going to change that.

"It's Tony, he has JARVIS wired into all the camera's everywhere and you know how he likes to stalk, today was just Steve's bad luck that he had a date when he was being a nosey ass." Darcy said as she looped some hair back into place on Jane's head. Having just found out that someone was following her without her knowledge, Darcy felt that she should be more perturbed with Tony's behavior, but she really wasn't. It was par for the course with Stark at this point and would probably be weirder if he wasn't being a sneak. That and Darcy knew that his intent was decidedly that of nosiness, concern and of the shits and giggles variety, unlike the person was following her who felt to be on the side of ominous.

"That's grossly invasive." Jane grumbled as she let out a happy little sigh of having her hair played with, bringing Darcy back from her not so comforting thoughts. "Although as nosey as it may be, and as much as he can be one, he does have a fine ass." Jane said as her eyes closed and Darcy's hand stopped mid hair fix to look at Tash, whose eyes had widened and mouth dropped open on as she scoffed laugh, that turned into laughter she couldn't stop and Darcy couldn't help but join in on, especially at Thor's very un-amused face. "What?" Jane asked as she opened her eyes to the noise, confusion on her face showing that she clearly couldn't remember what she had thought or even said out loud, but clearly not happy that Darcy had stopped touching her hair.

"Should Thor be worried?" Darcy teased, still laughing a little as she looped more hair back, but Jane only looked more confused. "Do I have to tell Pepper that she should be concerned about all of those late night science!sessions you've been having with her man, now that we know you're warm for his form, specifically his ass?" Darcy asked and Jane flushed slightly, her mouth forming a 'o' shape as Tasha mouthed 'warm for his form' at Darcy with an incredulous brow that made Darcy grin wider.

"Well, he does have a nice ass." Jane defended with a shake of her head before looking to Thor and rolling her eyes. "Don't worry, sweetheart, your ass is still number one in my book, A + ass-age, really." Jane praised as she patted his bicep and then looked at Darcy and Tash suddenly, making Darcy move her hand quickly as to not accidentally brain her. "But seriously, he does have a great ass, I mean there has to be a reason that Pepper has stuck it out this long and then agreed to marry him, and as his personality is hardly sparkling at the best of times, it has got to be the ass. It's phenomenal."

Nat and Darcy looked at each other for a moment, having a silent conversation full of head tilts and eye brow dancing, before nodding in unison and turning back to Jane.

"We concede to your point." Tash said gravely and it was a rather large concession for her to give as it was giving Tony quite the compliment that he would dine out on it for months if he ever knew. And as she was super pissed at him, Darcy was not inclined to let him know, ever.

"Thank you." Jane said as she snuggled into Thor's side, him looking slightly less murderous after having his ass complimented by his lady love. Darcy smiled and reached forward to pat his chest consolingly. Just as her hand was retreating and she was turning to say something to Tash about magnets, Thor caught her fingers and tugged her hand back, a little too hard, as he made her stumble towards him by the force of it.

"Whoa there, Muscles," Darcy gasped as she steadied herself on his chest, Jane grumbling with her eyes closed, seemingly falling asleep where she stood. "Human in high heels here, gentler handling, please," Darcy said as she tried to retreat and found she couldn't as he wouldn't let her go. She followed what Thor was looking at so intently; her bracelet from Sif. "Beautiful, right?" Darcy asked and then frowned in response to the one that Thor developed.

"Did Lady Sif gift this to you?" He asked quietly as he released Jane from under his arm, passing her to Tash who was frowning at the exchange, and took Darcy's hand in both of his, turning her wrist side to side so the star remnants glittered from the overhead lights.

"Yes, it's my going away present." Darcy said, looking to Nat who shrugged a shoulder and situated Jane more comfortably at her side. Darcy turned back and placed her other hand holding her drink on one of Thor's wrists to get his attention. "What's the matter?" she asked quietly. Thor looked up at her for a long moment before he looked to Tash and Jane, a strained smile on his face.

"Excuse us for a moment." Thor said as he tugged her towards the balcony doors, Darcy downed the rest of her drink handing the glass to Tash, shaking her head when she raised an eyebrow as if to ask if she should follow. They garnered some strange looks along the way, Clint straightening suddenly, he never did like her manhandled, even by Thor whom he knew would never hurt her intentionally and was always as delicate as he could be, and Phil not looking too happy either, but Darcy was more interested at her buddy's sudden bout of weirdness to be too concerned on how they looked. As soon as Thor and Darcy were out in the chilly night air, he closed the double doors and then turned to face her, his back to the twinkling skyline as JARVIS illuminated their surroundings and darkened the doors so that they would be seen from the inside that she sure really made Tash and Phil happy, especially as he didn't want her near a window let alone out in the open.

"Did Lady Sif tell you what it is made from?" He asked abruptly, without preamble, his thumb gliding over an orb. "What its powers are?" Thor demanded as he dragged his gaze from her new jewellery again and looked intently into Darcy's eyes, who nodded slowly.

"Yes, stars," Darcy said softly. "Sif said that it has the ability to heal and gives of an energy that can be traced across galaxies. She said it was symbolic of me going out into the world and making sure I can always be found. You know, literally, because Heimdall can't always be the eye in the sky for us Midgardian's."

"Did she say anything else?" Thor asked lowly and Darcy shook her head. "Are you sure, Lady Darcy?" he prompted again, fire in his voice and Darcy frowned, maybe a little anxious by the sudden intensity.

"Yes, Thor, I mean I think so nothing else sticks out. What is going on?" Darcy demanded as he finally released his hold on her and scrubbed it down his face.

"Lady Sif should not have given this to you before speaking with me first." Thor all but growled and Darcy scoffed as he turned his back and all but stalked away towards the edge of the balcony.

"Is this about Jane being super pissed when she finds out that I have a star bracelet and she doesn't, because dude, really, go to Asgard and get her one if you're so worried. You are the Prince, I'm sure they'd give you some stars if you asked nicely. And if not Mew Mew could make a pretty convincing case." And then she straightened suddenly, when he spun around, a thunderous (ha) expression on his face.

"This is not about Jane, Lady Darcy; this is about you and your safety. Which, as you well know, is of great concern and import to me." Thor said and she threw her hands up and they slapped down on her thighs, frustration taking over. She was getting a little sick of good things happening and then people around her making them bad for her.

"Then you should be happy, because now I have yet another tracker thingamabob on me to go along with my phone, ipod, necklace and taser, only this one goes all the way to Asgard and won't get Heimdall in trouble for interfering." Darcy exclaimed walked slowly towards Thor a few steps and stopped a few feet from him.

"You do not understand," He said gravely and Darcy softened a little at the helplessness she heard.

"Then explain it to me, Thor, because I'm not seeing the problem and neither did Sif when she gave me a pretty spectacular present."

Thor shook his head as he took her wrist again with gentle fingers, his thumb skimming a sphere that seemed to glow more brightly in the outside night sky. "This is Asgardian jewellery, Lady Darcy, Asgardian jewellery on a Midgardian woman on Midgard. Not to mention that it is made of something as powerful as stars." Thor said as if it explained everything but at Darcy's blank look Thor sighed and continued. "There are reasons Asgard does not allow the sharing of technology with Midgard unless under the most dire of consequence." Thor said and Darcy nodded.

"Yeah, we aren't advanced enough and you don't want us destroying ourselves unless it's with weaponry we can create with good old Midgardian thought power, paranoia and hate." Darcy joked, trying to lighten the mood. Thor smiled but it wasn't amused, if anything he seemed sad.

"Yes, but another reason is that objects from Asgard or things that have been on Asgard for a prolonged period of time release an energy much like that of your bracelet, Lady Darcy, and yourself for a time after your trips with me back to my home planet, but it dissipates after a while, lack of exposure, which is why I limit our trips and space them as I do." Darcy was about to speak up and say that she still wasn't quite getting it when Thor's hand constricted on her wrist and she held back. "Having our weaponry here, with traceable Asgardian energy is an open invitation to worlds of greater power to attack Midgard as they would be seen as a threat."

"We're already attacked by planets that see us as a threat." Darcy argued but Thor shook his head, his blond hair shining.

"No, we are not, we are attacked because other worlds see us as somewhere to be conquered as they see our potential, much like my brother tried to not all that long ago. They underestimate us and our cunning and we use that to our advantage, sensing my home artillery would prompt them to up their armaments upon an attack meant to destroy instead of enslave."

"Ok," Darcy nodded. "That makes sense, but what does that have to do with my bracelet?"

"As I said earlier, I time our trips to Asgard as to anticipate the dissipation of energy more quickly after our return home and then I spend a lot of my time close to where you and Jane are in the days after. Do you not wander why?" Thor asked.

"I always thought that you felt homesick after we get back and you wanted company with your favourite girls?" Darcy said hopefully and Thor chuckled, kissing the back of her hand lovingly as his thumb traced her knuckles.

"Perceptive, Lady Darcy, but as is life nothing is that simple or sweet. I stay close because the energy is traceable, which means you are traceable. And that puts you in danger. I, Mjölnir, Sif and the Warriors Three can never lose our Asgardian energies but that does not matter when we are Midgard bound because we can defend ourselves, you and Lady Jane cannot. And now you wearing this bracelet as full of good meaning and intentions as it may be have placed a target on you as long as you wear it. It is not only Asgard that can track you, but now its enemies also, enemies you would have no hope to defeat if they came for you. Not to mention that star remnants are a powerful and much sought after commodity. And now with you leaving my immediate protection, I can no longer ensure your permanent safety and good health. That is my issue, Lady Darcy."

Darcy looked down at her wrist and the problematic jewellery, then back at Thor. "I trust Sif and so do you; don't you think that she has already considered all of that? That she doesn't have a plan? No offense Thor, you are really smart, but Sif is smarter." Darcy smiled and Thor's lips quirked as she placed her hand on his wrist and squeezed. "You should talk to her and ask her if she has contingencies for all your concerns and if she doesn't or if they aren't up to your standards, I will give it back. I promise. I don't want you to worry, even though I know you will, and I love you for it, but let's not fret until we have good reason." Thor still looked unsure so Darcy tapped his chin with her thumb. "I'll be safe tonight, with you, Sif and the Meade, I'll blend in with all that energy. No one can pick me out, right?" Thor nodded and Darcy smiled as she noticed his still too concerned expression.

"I shall converse with Sif. You are most probably correct and I may be overreacting, but I wish to be sure." He looked down for a moment and then met her eyes. "As much as I know you dislike it, and find it restricting, you are my responsibility, Lady Darcy, and a responsibility that I value, that is dear to me and my love. If it were not for my landing on earth those years ago, you would not find yourself in the dangers you do now. So if I can prevent something bad or harmful to your person from occurring, then I will do all in my power to do so." Thor intoned guiltily and Darcy smiled, mystified.

"Thor, if it wasn't for you crash landing like the Roswell alien you are, my life would not be nearly as wonderful as it is." Darcy said sincerely, wanting to ease his guilt for which he had no need as far as she was concerned. "I have gotten to see more of this world than I ever thought I would, and worlds that I never knew existed, thanks to you. I've made friends who make me laugh and smile everyday, who I love and care about fiercely," Darcy said as she thought of her super hero friends and the blissfully happy months with Clint, she'd had love, real love and it had made her better as a person, she liked to think. But then she conceded. "And yes, there has been danger and death, but I wouldn't trade any of it just because I have to face that every few months. I wouldn't trade it for anything, Thor, my life is amazing and that is thanks to you." She said as she poked his chest. Then thinking of all he didn't know from the past few weeks and days in particular Darcy said. "And bad things can happen and probably will, but that is life, that is my life, our life. And not all of it is on your shoulders. I make decisions for myself and have to deal with the consequences, that are mine and mine only, nothing for you to feel badly about. No-one forced me to stay with Jane; I chose that, just like I chose to come to the Tower after your return in London. I could have left at any point, and still could, but I want to be a part of this life, being on the outside doesn't make me safer, just less informed. I'd prefer to be in the know with the people who I care about than on the outs with everyone else." Darcy took a step forward and smiled. "Whatever happens, good or bad, all you have to remember is that my life has been more than I could ever have dreamed of, and that is not something you should feel guilty about, ever."

Thor looked down into her face as he looked into her eyes, and then nodded. "I understand that this life is your choice and that you treasure it, but as I treasure you in return, I shall continue in my endeavour to keep you safe and happy. Just as you do for us. It's what you do for those who matter." Darcy just nodded as she knew that she couldn't say more to convince him but could console herself that he looked far less guilty than before.

"Hey," she said softly as she stepped closer and tucked herself under his chin for a cuddle, her goose bumps lessening almost immediately. "You bring a girl outside onto a roof at night to chastise her for accepting a gift; you are responsible for her warmth, Big Guy." Darcy joked into his chest, smiling when she felt his chuckle, that warming her more than his body.

"My apologies, Lady Darcy, for the oversight in chivalry, it is my pleasure to bring your warmth back to you." He said as he wrapped her in a bear hug. "Do you think that Lady Jane will be jealous of your gift?" Thor asked after a long, comfortable silence as they held each other.

"Oh, yeah," Darcy laughed. "The astrophysicist's assistant getting a star bracelet before she does, she'll be pissed. Although if you tell her the story you just told me about being a target to creepy, violent aliens, then I think that she'd think twice before demanding a little something for herself. And then she'd want it anyway because she's Jane and it's made out of freaking stars and she's an astrophysicist and stubborn as fuck." Darcy lent back a little to look him in the face, a mischievous smile on her lips. "And hey, since you're looking for engagement rings already, maybe a glowing piece of star instead of a diamond, would be nice with a titanium band, don't you think?" Darcy asked and Thor froze.

"How did you know?" He asked quietly, eyes darting around for eavesdroppers.

"JARVIS," Darcy said simply and Thor scowled back at the Tower that the AI presided over.

"Oi," Darcy said as she hit his shoulder in defense of her AI friend. "None of that, he's trying to help, JARVIS is a romantic robot." She cautioned and Thor pouted down at her. "He informed me and only me and is under strict instruction to put people on the run around if they suspect something wedding-y involving you and Jane. He may have just mentioned that your search history was full of jewellery stores and specifically engagement rings but that you couldn't seem to choose." Darcy assured and Thor mellowed. "Besides, just because it isn't official doesn't mean you already aren't headed to the altar." Darcy teased and Thor smiled. "If it's safe and all that, I think that Jane would love some of this." Darcy said as she lifted her glittering wrist.

"I was going to ask you opinion, have you take me to Tiffany and ask her opinion also, as Stark did for Lady Pepper." He said and Darcy bit back a laugh, folding her lips inward. Over a year uninterrupted on earth and he was still uninformed on some things.

"Well, now you have it. Janie isn't really the diamond type of girl; she's unique and deserves something equally as unique." Darcy said and Thor nodded.

"That she is thank you, Lady Darcy." Thor said as he tilted his head back to the doors and Darcy nodded, and he turned them back to the doors to return to the party, putting her hand through the loop of his arm as he placed his hand over hers. "And I have been remiss tonight, you look very beautiful, you wear that dress well, Lady Sif has made you look as resplendent as ever." Thor complimented and Darcy laughed.

"Thank you, and now you need to talk to Sif and see about getting your lady love that ring." She said as they reached the entryway.

"I think that asking about your well being is a little more important." Thor said in light reprimand.

"Then you have no idea how seriously women take their engagement rings." Darcy joked as Thor put his hand on the handle, when it opened suddenly, Thor standing slightly in front of Darcy in alarm, only to calm when he saw that it was Steve on the other side although he still had himself placed between the two of them, Darcy noticed.

"Hey," Steve said as his eyes went from Thor and then to Darcy. "I was wondering if I could get a moment with Darce." He asked and Thor shrugged.

"That is up to the Lady Darcy." He said as he turned to look at her. "Lady Darcy?" He asked and Darcy looked to Steve around Thor, trying to gauge his mood. She really wasn't in the mood for a showdown. Noticing that he only looked nervous and maybe a little harried from his earlier exchange with Tony, Darcy nodded as she let go of Thor's arm.

"Yeah, its fine, you probably need to go save Tash anyway; Jane can get a little much when drunk and just tell them that I'm with Steve and I'm ok." Darcy said, knowing that Tash would have to know she was with someone who could keep her safe and Thor nodded as he dipped his head and whispered to her.

"Remember what you would be losing and the origins of your anger." And then he kissed her temple, nodded to Steve with a stern look and was back into the party, the door closing leaving her alone with him.

"So," Darcy said as she wrapped her arms around herself a little, the lack of Thor's warmth and her sudden insecurity of having to open up about her feelings when not in an argument, which was when she was most comfortable doing so, Darcy backed up and walked towards the balcony edge, leaning against the rail, looking at the city bustle and twinkle below.

"So," Steve repeated as he followed her, startling her when she felt something cover her back and shoulders. His Jacket, he'd given her his suit jacket to guard against the cold and as an olive branch and a show of friendly concern, both of which she accepted with a smile as she turned to face him.

"I really don't want to fight, Steve." She admitted quietly and noticed how his shoulders relaxed noticeably, the tense draw of his brow lessening.

"Neither do I- especially not tonight with you leaving so soon. I already made you have that talk about the negotiations that I know you didn't want to, so I won't force you to have another you don't want, I just need to know that we're ok. I'm aware of how selfish that is, but I need us to be ok." Steve said as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets, looking as insecure as she still felt.

"We're not really ok, haven't been for a while if we're honest, and I don't really want to talk about it," Darcy said and Steve clenched his jaw as he nodded, looking to the floor. "But I really want to be," Steve looked up suddenly, hope flickering beneath the hurt. "So I think we should, we've ignored it for too long as it is, like you said."

"Thank you." He said but Darcy shook her head.

"I wouldn't be, all the other times we've tried this we end up yelling and tearing into each other." Darcy said with a humourless laugh. "And to be honest, I don't want you to have to be hurt for us to get on with shit again but not actually solve anything."

"Yeah," Steve smiled small. "That wasn't much fun, but you made it bearable."

"You're my friend, no matter how mad or hurt I am at you. I wouldn't just leave you to suffer alone." Darcy said as she hugged his jacket closer as a breeze cut across them.

"Even though I wasn't a friend to you when you were suffering, when you needed me," Steve said and Darcy looked up sharply, eyes wide. Steve smiled sadly, it was the first time he had acknowledged his abandoning of her and Jane and Thor. "A friend, someone you care for, was forced from you and I stuck for the person who facilitated it." Darcy looked back to the cityscape and sighed as tears watered her eyes making the lights shimmer.

"Why did you?" She asked and Steve sighed as he pressed his back against the rail and looked back towards the Tower. It wasn't that they'd never had the conversation, now just felt different, like progress could be made, maybe if they could stay on track.

"Stick up for Sharon?" He asked as he looked at her from the corner of his eyes and Darcy nodded. "Because she matters to me and no one else was." He admitted and Darcy closed her eyes, the inference that Sharon mattered more stinging.

"Shouldn't that have maybe told you that you were on the wrong side?" Darcy said as she put her arms into the too long sleeves of Steve's jacket, her fingers hidden from view as they twisted together.

"You know me, Darce, always sticking up for the little guy." He joked and Darcy just shook her head, she wasn't looking to lighten the mood. He sighed and turned serious again. "People were attacking her for doing her job. For doing what she felt was right, I couldn't just say nothing." And Darcy scoffed derisively.

"Yeah, you definitely didn't say 'nothing'." Darcy accused, anger welling that she tried to contain, Thor's words making more sense as she noticed Sharon wasn't what she was angry at in that moment.

"It's not like you were a church mouse either." Steve retorted and Darcy pushed herself from the rail and stood in front of him. They needed to face this head on, both figuratively and literally.

"She separated Erik from us; Erik, who is like a father to Jane, to me and a close friend to Thor. And she took that from us, remorselessly." Darcy shook her head as tear fell. "Out of everyone here, you should have had our backs about a friend whose mind had been played with. Jane, Thor and I were all on your side when Bucky popped back up and tried to kill everyone, because we understood. Thor had been through it with Loki and we'd helped Erik when he was with us and less than himself thanks to outside interference. We stood against SHIELD when they tried to take him and then Jane helped build machines to help with his treatments." Darcy swiped at her face and Steve looked pained. "We stood by you, supported you and then helped you come to terms with the reality of the new Bucky. Even backed you up when you and he felt it was best that he go off with Sam and Coulson's old team, on the Bus. Because you felt that he needed his own team, so he could learn to be himself, the new him, without the expectations you put on him as a best friend, a brother. You didn't do that for us, not a little bit."

"Darce," Steve started put Darcy cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"No, I'm not done. If it had been you and Bucky was kept away and I stuck up for the person who did that, defended them without giving an inch, would you be alright with me?" When Steve didn't answer Darcy carried on. "How about this then, if it had been anyone other than Sharon Carter, would you have still been on their side? Would you have vehemently defended them as you did her?" Darcy asked as her breath hitched in her throat.

"I don't know." Steve said quietly and Darcy swallowed hard.

"Yes you do. You just don't like the answer and neither do I. Erik, Jane, Thor and I had been to hell and back together, faced Loki and SHIELD and Dark Elves. We were a team, a good one, and none of what we did could have been done without him and his brilliant brain. You know how important those relationships are, the connection made." Darcy said her face reddening in her defence of Erik.

"Yes, a brain that had been put under tremendous strain and manipulation. He had to be treated in a mental facility, Darcy, having him here would have done more harm than good. It would have been too much." Steve said in a voice on the wrong side of pitying for her liking.

"Bullshit." Darcy replied heatedly. "Clint was also put under the same manipulation, was also treated for what happened to him and he's allowed to shoot arrows into people, on your order most of the time. All we wanted was for Erik to be with us, to work with us like he had before. The stress wouldn't have been too much with his friends, his family with him; just like we did with Bucky." Darcy said and Steve closed his eyes.

"Clint was treated and helped by SHIELD and then by people that Pepper found and trusted so was Bucky." Steve said evenly as Darcy narrowed her eyes at him.

"So? Treatment is treatment and if he's recovered then there should not be a problem." Darcy said as she fisted her hands.

"He refused the psych eval." Steve said quietly and Darcy sucked in a breath through her teeth.

"So did I and so did Jane, it was optional for non combatants. Our brain and how we think or why is of no business to anyone. Erik was better; he had been released from the hospital."

"You and Jane hadn't had Loki poking around inside your brains and just because he wouldn't have been holding a weapon doesn't mean that Erik couldn't have been dangerous." Darcy let out a humourless laugh again and Steve frowned.

"Bucky literally had an arm doubling as a weapon and we didn't remove it even at his worst. But apparently a hypothetical danger is more dangerous than one in actuality." Darcy lamented the double standard. Steve was full of them when it came to this.

"Sharon made the right call when he was uncooperative." Steve argued, not responding to her point and Darcy shook her head.

"'Uncooperative'," Darcy repeated slowly, her voice dangerously low that it made Steve narrow his eyes at her. "Like how Bucky was, after you first found him. And yet he was welcomed with open and caring arms." She accused and Steve stood suddenly, looming over her.

"Bucky had spent decades having his mind wiped and manipulated; reluctance on his part was expected."

"And accepted," Darcy added venomously. "But apparently your caring consideration only goes so far, doesn't it, Steve?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He demanded and Darcy smiled cruelly.

"That you either have to be from your past or a blood descendant of it, to get your understanding and support, in kind. The rest of us can go fuck ourselves." She all but spat, the air was thick with tension and anger; the only sounds the whooshing of the wind around them. They stood silently staring at each other, breathing heavily before Steve shook his head, ending the tense standoff.

"So much for not wanting to fight," Steve said quietly and then swiped his face, turning his back to her.

"I told you that I didn't want to, not that we wouldn't." Darcy said as Steve rested his forearms on the rail, hunching over, making himself small.

"All this anger that you have, it's not really at Sharon, is it?" Steve said and Darcy breathed in a deep breath as she walked to stand beside Steve; Thor's comment making complete and utter sense now.

"Some of it is most of it not. Thor said to me earlier that I should 'think where I am aiming my anger' and I am now." Darcy admitted as she cleared her throat of tears. "She was wrong in her assessment of Erik and then was so unapologetic about it. We understood that she was following an order that wasn't the problem. We didn't need her to regret her decision or change her mind; we just needed her to show even a modicum of understanding that her actions had hurt people. She's just such an agent, full on SHIELD bot at times, that connecting with her was close to impossible and then when I found out about Erik and I stopped trying all together, but no," Darcy sighed, "I think that she was just an easy target to aim my hurt and anger at."

"Easier than what?" Steve asked even though he knew the answer, they both did.

"Aiming it closer to home, where it belonged; at you," She said quietly and Steve hung his head as he clasped his hands together and squeezed. "What you did, or rather didn't do by not standing up for us, for me, it hurt, and it still hurts." Darcy bit her lip before she decided to go all in. "I don't talk about my childhood a lot." She said and Steve looked up at her curiously at the seemingly sudden change of topic but realizing that it wasn't as out of place as first glanced. "And I don't because it wasn't very happy; it was lonely and involved me being abandoned often by warring parents who used me to hurt the other." Darcy said and Steve frowned in sympathy as he stood up to face her, face interested at the insight to her life before them that she rarely if ever shared. "That's why I didn't want to leave Erik, why I felt so angry that I was forced to abandon him. I know what it's like to be left behind, and when you stuck up for Sharon and defended her for making me do that, and then you all but abandoning me yourself for her, it made me angry. Really angry." Darcy admitted and Steve opened his mouth top speak but Darcy shook her head and he closed it again, she needed to get it out interrupted. "But then you, Mr. Nearly Indestructible, went and got yourself blown up and my anger seemed so unimportant. But it was, it is, because I still have it and it's worming its way into other things and my opinions of other people, well, person really."

"You must hate me." Steve said and Darcy made a negative humming noise.

"No, I don't, I've never hated you and I don't now, either," She assured. "I just don't very much like the person you become when she's involved. You get tunnel vision and it all becomes about Steve and Sharon, the rest be damned." Steve stayed silent, not arguing, he knew she was right. "And I went through that enough with my Mom and Dad." Steve winced and Darcy felt no joy in it, no longer wanting him to hurt, so she turned it back to the matter at hand. "I think that you dug in with your defence of her even if deep down you knew it was wrong, because you didn't want to lose her; even if it meant forever damaging your relationships me and Jane and Thor. I've seen and been through it before, different scenario, same results."

"I wouldn't have let that happen. I'm not your parents." Steve argued and Darcy looked at him sadly.

"You wouldn't have even known you were doing it. That's how tunnel vision works Steve." Darcy sighed as she rolled her neck feeling tense as she often did when Sharon Carter was a topic of discussion. "Steve, Sharon is this weird mix of your past with Peggy that never got a chance to have a future and a present that has a future still entrenched in the past." Darcy said and Steve looked over at her, lips pursed.

"I'm not with Sharon because of Peggy." He defended and Darcy tilted her head.

"That's not what I meant." Darcy said quickly, not wanting to be misunderstood. "You're not with her only because of Peggy, don't lie to me and more importantly lie yourself and say that she isn't a factor, that there isn't a draw to her niece, because of her." Steve looked away and Darcy sighed. "That wasn't me diminishing your feelings for her Steve; it was me saying that I can understand your single mindedness when it comes to you and Sharon, because you need to be to figure out what the two of you have outside of that. I may not like it and I do not think that it's healthy, but I get it."

Steve turned around then and regarded Darcy. "You remember yesterday when we were talking about me getting out into the world?" He asked and Darcy nodded. "I don't think I completely understood what you meant, but then I thought about you leaving, being on your own, making your own way, I think I got. You knew that I watched the movies, read the books, listened to the music and gotten myself caught up because you were with me for context sake, what you meant was that just because I had reference didn't mean that I had put myself out there, I hadn't tethered myself here beyond the people in this Tower, those up on the bus and my up to date knowledge. I mean I've dated and had fun and made some friends, but nothing too much out of my comfort zone. You wanted me to accept where I was and enjoy it, so I called Sharon." Steve laughed hollowly, "I knew that you wouldn't like it, Darce, that it would cause problems, but I had to." He turned back to the city lights and licked his lips. "You're not wrong about the Peggy part of it all, but you're not right either. Sharon's special, she's principled and strong like Peggy but in a way all of her own." Steve turned to her again, his features resigned. "And I'm not giving her up when I only just made the decision to be with her because I'm ready now. I could only ever be her friend before, that's different now. She makes me want things for myself that I thought I never would again and I can't let that go without trying first." He admitted. "But I don't want my want for Sharon, a life with her, to get in the way of our friendship like last time. And I get that that's selfish, for me to ask you to accept this, but I am. I will never leave you again, I will not abandon you, I will make sure of that, I promise." Steve vowed. "I will not hurt you anymore than I already have; I just need you to do the same for me. That my wanting Sharon to be in my life won't have you walking out of it."

"Yeah," Darcy nodded slowly as she turned to look back at where the party for her was. She had the strangest feeling of be so far removed from them and unsure how to get back. Darcy took off Steve's Jacket and handed it back to him without looking.

"What do we do now?" Steve asked as he accepted it but didn't put it on, eying her warily.

Darcy let out a long breath as she thought. If she stopped being his friend because of Sharon she would be guilty of abandoning him as he had her all those months ago. And now that he had told her how much Sharon meant to him, she couldn't see herself being selfish and take away her friendship because of her negative feelings towards the woman he cared about. Especially, as she had admitted that a lot of the negative emotions connected to Sharon was primarily aimed at Steve and she was caught up in the cross fire of childhood abandonment issues. But at the same time Darcy was aware that going forward wouldn't be as simple as wanting it, what with all the hurt feelings and dislike abound.

"Move forward, I guess. Get over it, get on with it, and get through it." She suggested after a moment as she looked over at him. "What else is there to do?" Darcy moved her hand to her ear and twirled the pearl hanging from it; Steve followed her movement and smiled softly. "Thor also said to me earlier 'remember what I'd be losing' if we didn't make up, if we let this long held hurt, anger and resentment rule us."

"He is full of insightfulness tonight, isn't he?" Steve joked and Darcy smiled.

"Must be the Meade," Darcy replied and Steve chuckled before clearing his throat.

"Must be," He agreed quietly, sobering. "And what would you be losing?" He asked, getting back to the point.

"You," Darcy replied. "And I don't want that to happen. The only problem is that I didn't like the 'you', you became when you were just friends with Sharon I don't know how I'm going to feel about the one who's in a relationship with her." Darcy admitted, acknowledging one of the major stumbling blocks going forward; the Steve that he would be and the fact that she and Sharon had to find a way to interact without being mean girls.

"What can we do about that?" he asked again and Darcy shrugged, glad that he understood what she meant and that he didn't seem offended.

"Be brutally honest with each other," Darcy said, "I tell you when you are being a pig headed, selfish, abandoning, asshole and you tell me when you think that I'm not being fair to you and your relationship."

"Isn't that what we did before? Didn't work too well then," Steve said and Darcy's lip twitched.

"That's because we were both being selfish then. This time we will try harder to see it from each other's point of view." She looked up at him and bit her lower lip. "And we leave the past right here on this balcony, no throwing old arguments at one another, No longer having my parental issues foisted on you. What's done is done." Darcy said and Steve narrowed his eyes.

"And how do we manage that?" He asked and Darcy smirked.

"And here I thought I was talking to the man with the plan. It seems to me that I'm the one doing all the work here, soldier." Darcy teased and Steve snorted, obviously glad to be joking again.

"There's no strategy that I can conceive to fix this. Give me armed enemy combatants and I'm golden, trying to figure out how to apologise for hurting someone I care about and I got nothing." He said ruefully making Darcy smile.

"You could start with that and I could do the same, it goes a long way, maybe the whole way." Darcy said and Steve gave her a confused/constipated look.

"Start with what?" He asked and Darcy rolled her eyes.

"Apologising, doofus, saying we're sorry and that we found our actions and their consequences regrettable." She informed and Steve's eyes widened.

"I've never apologised?" He asked and Darcy laughed a little.

"No, Steve, you have never apologised, to me, Jane or Thor and neither have I. When would you have had the chance? We argued for three weeks straight, then you nearly died and then we ignore it until right now, where, still no apologising has taken place."

"Oh, God, Darcy, I'm sorry, really I am, just because I agreed with Sharon doesn't mean that I should have disregarded your feelings, especially after everything that you did to help me with Bucky. And I'm sorry that it took me this long to say that. I'll say the same to Jane and Thor when I see them as many times as it takes, and I need you to know that this isn't about getting you on side for support of me and Sharon but because I am genuinely sorry. My intention was never to abandon you or hurt you and I won't do it again, please accept my apology." Steve gushed as he took a step towards her.

"Thank you," Darcy said softly, "Apology accepted." And it was, he'd acknowledged his wrong doing and now it was her turn. Darcy took a deep breath and released it in a rush. "I'm sorry too." She said and Steve frowned.

"No, Darce," he started but she waved him off.

"No, I need to say this and you need to hear it. To you and Sharon actually, but she can wait until I'm armed with my Teletubbies." Darcy said waving a hand, missing Steve's confused look when she looked at the floor to steel herself. "I shouldn't have let this fester, I should have pulled up my big girl panties and said that why I was upset with you and I definitely shouldn't have been so harsh about Sharon because of my transference of anger onto her from you originating from my parents. I may not like her a lot, even without the whole Erik of it, but she deserved better treatment from me and from now on she'll get it. I promise. Not just because you want to get into her big girl panties and I am a truly excellent wingman, my successes are in that room if you want evidence, but because it's the grown up thing to do and I am one, even if my novelty sock collection try and dispute that. I'm not that hurt and lonely little girl anymore and I shouldn't let what happened to me dictate the direction of my life. So, I'm sorry and if you're looking for my support with you relationship with Sharon then you have it. I only ever want you to be happy, Steve and if Sharon manages that, then you won't find opposition in me. We're friends and I need to remember that and put it before other things." Darcy said and Steve nodded.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me and it will to Sharon, too." Steve said with a small smile that Darcy returned. "We good now? About the Erik issue, at least? Everything else we take as it comes?" He asked and Darcy looked at him for a moment, seeing the cautious hope and optimism there.

"Yeah," She nodded, "We're good with the Erik situation, and we'll take everything on as and when." She confirmed, because they were and Steve blew out a long breath.

"Good, hug it out?" He asked and Darcy laughed as he spread his arms in invitation.

"You've been all over me all night, aren't you tired of me yet?" She asked as stepped into his embrace, feeling lighter than she had for a while. Also warmer, because Jesus Christ was it stupidly cold so high up.

"I could never be tired of you, Darce." Steve contradicted but added after a moment. "But yeah, I may have been a little more tactile than usual though."

"Why is that?" She asked into his chest and Steve sighed.

"You won't like the answer." He warned and Darcy shrugged.

"The world is full of things that I don't like, babies with pierced ears, people who say ferry boats like 'fairy' boats, non alcoholic beer because it's pointless and mimes." Darcy listed.

"Mimes?" Steve asked sounding decidedly unsure if he really wanted to know.

"Had a run in with one in Paris, funnily enough they don't mime being in pain after you punch them in the face." Darcy said as Steve snorted.

"I bet," Steve said and then was quiet until he grunted when Darcy pinched his side. "Ok, fine, the reason for all the contact," He said as his arms contracted around her. "You're leaving and like I said yesterday with our schedules and Avenger business sometimes I don't get to see you and then after Sharon and I decided to give it a go I thought it was only a matter of time before you found out and didn't want anything to do with me." He said and Darcy frowned as she looked back up into his face.

"Well that makes you stupid." Darcy chastised and Steve looked sheepish.

"I told you wouldn't like it."

"We're still friends even if I don't live here and I will always make time for you if you want to hang out, you know that and I may not like your girlfriend but I love you, you fool. You just have to make sure that you don't turn into an asshole, and we're good." She reminded him and he nodded.

"I know," He said and at Darcy's look he amended. "Well, I know now." And Darcy nodded, raising an eyebrow when he frowned. "Do you think you could ever like Sharon?" Steve asked seriously and Darcy held her breath for a moment, the other stumbling block making her anxious. Feeling Darcy tense, Steve shook his head quickly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked that, forget it." He rushed and pulled back from the hug, not wanting another fight so soon after making up.

"Hey, no, stop." Darcy said as she placed a hand on his arm to stop his retreat from her. "It's a fair question, everyone wants their friends to like the person they're with, it's just not a simple answer." Darcy said and Steve nodded, waiting for her full reply. "You can't predict or force yourself to like someone, that's not how it works, but you can make it so you dislike them less, find common ground and interests, Tasha has helped me there a little and as she and Maria both like her and you like, like her, then there has to be something for me to latch onto, too. And as we have established that half of my annoyance at her is actually annoyance at you, I just have to untangle it all and go from there. And I also promise to not be such a mega bitch to her in the future." Darcy vowed and Steve smiled.

"I really do think you'll like her after the two of you have had your talk." Steve said and Darcy frowned.

"Ugh, that's going to suck." Darcy moaned. "Don't give me that look Steve," Darcy said as she pointed a finger at him and his own frown. "As much as I don't like her she doesn't like me just as much. Building a friendship from mutual dislike is awful."

"She'll try if you do. She knows you're important to me." Steve and Darcy relaxed a little.

"See, that's another thing we have in common, we both like you which means we'll try harder. And as long as she doesn't try and stop me touching your ass whenever I want, we should be cool. That's kinda a deal breaker for me."

"I can't even get you to stop touching my ass and you love me. I can't imagine you'd stop when someone you disliked asked. It would probably just make you do it more to piss her off." Steve snorted and Darcy grinned.

"Ah, you know me well." Darcy said as she bought her shoulders to her ears. "And all you have to do is say no Steve, consent is a very big deal. No means no."

"I'll bear that mind." Steve smirked.

"See that you do, my rap sheet doesn't need mime puncher and National Icon molester on it, people will start thinking me strange." Darcy said as she stretched, looking back to the party and sighing. "We should get back, how's my make up?" she asked after the little tear up earlier.

"All in place, and beautiful as ever." Steve answered after giving her a once over.

"Excellent and thank you." She nodded as she started to walk backwards to the doors. "And just so you know, Thor will be more than willing to accept your apology but Jane won't be as easy as me to convince." She warned and Steve blanched.

"That was easy?" He asked as he motioned to where they had just talked.

"Compared to what Jane will put you through? Hell, yes, that was a freaking cake walk, dude. " And Steve groaned. "I actually don't know what is going to be harder, proving that you're sorry for the right reasons or stopping her from calling your girlfriend anything and everything rude instead of her actual name." Darcy laughed.

"Yeah, I don't think that Sharon will react very well to being called Ice Bitch to her face." Steve said making Darcy snort at his unimpressed look.

"Hey, we called her it to her face, we only resorted to doing it behind her back when we never saw her and besides, if the moniker fits." Darcy defended and Steve narrowed his eyes.

"I thought you were going to be supportive and less of a... mega bitch?" Steve grimaced at the descriptor.

"And I am, I won't be calling her any names anymore, doesn't mean I can stop Jane." Darcy retorted.

"Darcy," Steve complained as she turned to open the door back up for the party.

"Steve," She mimicked back, "Jane is her own, stubborn person. You want her to be nice to your girlfriend, give her a reason to be." She advised as they entered the party, the warmth immediately pushing the chill of the balcony away.

"And what reason would that be?" he asked and Darcy turned to him slowly in the entryway as JARVIS turned the lights off.

"That you're sorry, that you didn't mean to hurt her and then list the reasons you like Sharon and why it's important to you that Jane does too."

"And that'll work?" He asked he asked sceptically.

"Hell if I know." Darcy snorted as she pivoted on her toes away from him, passing Tony and flicking him on the ear because he deserved it, earning a yelp of indignation as she made her way back to Nat, Thor and Jane, who was lounging on a corner sofa, seemingly oblivious to the world, leaving Steve moaning behind her as Bruce called him in for a discussion.

"Is all well?" Thor asked with a tilt of his head to where Steve was chatting to Bruce, when she reached them and accepted the Meade he had ready for her with only a little hesitation, his face worried.

"Yeah, it is, he'll be coming to talk to you and Jane at some point." Darcy said and took a sip of her drink, wincing at the burn. Nodding and smiling at Tasha when she asked if that were true with an eyebrow. And she wasn't even lying for once, go her.

"Really?" Thor asked and then he smiled when she smiled her answer, "It would seem that things went very well." He complimented and Darcy shrugged.

"He apologized and I followed your advice but I'll class 'very well' as when Jane says it's copasetic."

"Ah, the true test for an apologetic soul." Thor chuckled and Darcy smiled.

"And Steve thought Doom was bad news." Tasha said with a smile at the astrophysicist. Nat could appreciate Jane's adamant refusal to forgive someone when slighted.

"Did you talk to Sif?" Darcy asked before taking another sip, this time not feeling the burn, just the warmth down her throat, which actually wasn't a good sign, because it tricked you into drinking more.

"I did, all is safe." Thor assured. "Apparently Sif had her brother test the strength of the energy and it is as close to negligible as she could reach without being useless, but it does mean that others searching will mistake you for an anomaly if they don't know what they search for."

"Does that mean Operation: Starburst is a go?" Darcy asked as she covertly tapped her ring finger and threw a glance at Jane. Nat smirking and shaking her head at Darcy's attempt at covert spy craft.

"That it does, I shall be making enquiries on my return with Lady Sif." Thor confirmed as Darcy grinned so wide it hurt. Boss lady was gonna get a star and be so stoked.

"And apparently brining back three exiled guests." Darcy deadpanned and Thor grimaced.

"Not without your approval, Lady Darcy." Thor said and Darcy rolled her eyes.

She opened her mouth to respond but closed it again as the music dimmed and JARVIS came over the speakers.

"Miss Darcy, I apologise for the interruption to your party, but you have a visitor down in the garage and they are quite insistent upon being seen." He said without a small amount of censure to the intrusion.

Darcy looked around the room and picked out immediately the way Tash, Phil, Sif and especially Clint stood to attention.

"Who is it, JARV?" she asked because visitors this late at night were not common or a good thing in the Tower.

"It is a Mr. Logan, Miss Darcy and as I said he is quite insistent on seeing you." And Darcy stilled. Logan wanting to see her so late and so ardently could only mean one thing: news on the stalker.

"Yeah, Ok, tell him I'll be down in a few minutes." Darcy said as she frowned at the ceiling as she turned slightly on her heels, feeling out of sorts and unsure of in which direction to walk in all of a sudden, her eyes catching Clint's, who was looking at her, jaw clenched and hands fisted. She turned away.

"How the hell did he get into my garage?" Tony demanded answer from the ceiling, moving away from Pepper and towards Darcy.

"He was with Agent Kyle, Sir." JARVIS replied instantly.

"Who the hell is Agent Kyle and why does he have access to my Tower?" Tony asked, his nose scrunched up, even though he had met the agent in question multiple times and didn't seem to mind him too mush.

"My driver and part of my protection detail, Seth. He has lower level access." Darcy answered instead of JARVIS.

"And what are they doing here together?" He asked and Darcy gave him her blandest look as she tilted her head.

"I'm not psychic, Tony, that's why I said I would go down and talk to Logan." And it wasn't exactly a lie, she didn't know what he wanted, not really, she just suspected.

"Did side burns say what he wanted so late?" Tony asked the ceiling as he gave Darcy such a look and walked away from her.

"Just that it could not wait, Sir."

"Then tell him to come up." Tony replied even though he obviously didn't want that. "He already had her all afternoon; he doesn't get to have her all night too." He groused and with the way Clint's eyes hardened, he didn't like the implication Tony made and Darcy could care less, right then, male ego was dumb and he had no claim to her anymore to deserve the reaction.

"No, JARV, don't, I'll be down in a minute." Darcy counteracted before turning to Tony. "I'll be back soon, it's not like Wolverine is going to whisk me away in the night, never to be seen again."

"With his track record with women, I wouldn't put it past him." Tony countered and Darcy rolled her eyes as Pepper came to her fiancé's side. Pot, kettle, black came to mind and just because pot was now engaged did not mean he could throw stones-and she'd mixed metaphors.

"Let her go, Tony, her friend wants to see her." Pepper tried to sooth but Tony scoffed.

"If you think he's not putting the moves on her with his X gene charms after she has had a few drinks with friends, then you, my dear heart are so unbelievably naive." Tony accused and Pepper narrowed her eyes dangerously.

Sensing the beginning of an argument and thus her way out, Darcy edged her way towards the door, Tasha close by.

"It'll look suspicious if you come too," Darcy whispered. "I'll go down, see what's up, then come back and fill you in." She said and Nat frowned before nodding quickly, reaching for her phone and typing something.

"I just asked JARVIS to tell me when you get to the garage and for him to tell me when you are on your way back." She said shaking her phone and Darcy nodded. Tash was her protection, after all, caution was expected and appreciated.

"See you soon." She said and then made her way to the elevator when Tash nodded and walked back to Thor. "Hey, JARV, can you put the garage on Coulson's settings, please?" Darcy asked when she entered the car.

"I already have, Miss Darcy." JARVIS replied and Darcy smiled.

"Thank you, can you tell me what to expect when I get there?" She asked and if Darcy thought it was possible her AI friend hesitated.

"I think it would be best if Mr. Logan told you that." He decided and Darcy frowned but decided not to push.

"Ok," she agreed as she leant against the rails and let the rest of the elevator ride go by in silence, glad for the lack of panpipe this time although it may have been a welcome distraction from her thoughts of what she was about to learn.

The elevator came to a bump of a stop and the doors opened as she heard exchange of heated words not too far away, making her frown.

"I don't fucking care, kid, I've got no loyalty to Barton stopping me from telling her what she needs to know to keep her safe." She heard Logan growl and Darcy quickened her steps, the sound of her shoes giving her away as Logan looked up from where he was arguing with Seth by the car she'd been in earlier that day.

"And I'm telling you that he deserves the chance to tell her himself." Seth bit back, shutting up when he saw Darcy his face a mask of anger as she stopped before them.

"What does Barton deserve to tell me himself?" Darcy asked as she stepped between the pair a little, not wanting anything to go to blows when they glared at one another.

"Nothing." Seth bit out again as he glared at Logan who just looked amused by him at this point. It was a little like a terrier baring its teeth at a Great Dane.

"Kid, she's not stupid, she knows we know something, we wouldn't be here otherwise." Logan snorted and Darcy rolled her eyes at being referred to as she, she really loved that.

"And she would like to know what that is." Darcy said indignantly. "You are interrupting my party, you know."

"Ask agent Barton, it's his business." Seth said and Darcy frowned at him. This loyalty to Clint, whilst admirable was a little annoying, just then.

"It's her business too, idiot." Logan sneered as he took a step forward, his chest brushing Darcy's shoulder as she refused to budge.

"You bought him back without puncture marks, how about we carry on the trend?" Darcy said lowly to Logan who fought a smirk.

"Then they should talk about it to each other and we should stay out." Seth said ignoring their exchange as Darcy snorted, gaining incredulous looks from both sides.

"Sorry, it's just talking to Clint and expecting an answer hasn't exactly proven effective for me as of late. And if I'm honest I don't know if I'd believe what he told me even he did talk." Darcy said to Seth before she looked to Logan expectantly. "What do I need to know?" she asked.

"Miss Lewis-" Seth started but Darcy cut him off with a look, both at being called Miss Lewis and the interruption. She was tired and had had an emotionally wrought evening already but she was more than capable of deciding what to know and when.

"No, Seth, Clint had the opportunity to be honest, to let me in, for nearly seven weeks apparently. He had his chance, now it's Logan's." Darcy said and Seth stared at her for a long moment. No longer angry like he was with Logan, but vaguely pained and she didn't know how to take that. Seth nodded shortly and held up his hands; smart boy realized when he'd lost a battle and Darcy smiled at him, glad that he hadn't stormed off. She felt she needed all the information she could get "So?" she asked with a raised brow.

Logan studied her face for a moment, eyes darting around her features, his mouth a tight line, before looking at Seth then back to her, saying gruffly.

"We have the identity of the fucker stalking you."

A/N: ooof, long wait, so sorry life is hectic, thank you for the reviews and follows, I like you lots.

SJ xx