"Eat." Jane slid a plate into her elbow.

"Working." Darcy mumbled.

"It's annoying, isn't it?" there was a pause. The plate knocked her funny bone, which was a certified Darcy maneuver and not funny. "Eat."

"You're the worst." Darcy said.

"Oh look, a whole sentence." Jane was smiling, Darcy could hear it. "I'm getting through to her."

She blinked. The little engine in her hands was complete - she was adjusting a mantle and touch screen together on a little cube of a similar size. There were mounted wheels and what looked like a hydraulic lift, fitted with a metal plate that had two small rectangular openings she had no idea what were for.

Her stomach growled, and she put the engine down. Dum-E handed her a box of wet wipes, and she smiled for him, making his little claw spin happily.

It was just a stack of sandwiches, but they were the best sandwiches in the history of ever. Darcy came out of her head space and noticed some things:

1) Loki was cross legged under a desk, watching a laptop that displayed YouTube, on a quiet video about card tricks.

2) Jane and Thor were there, waiting for her to say something, when she felt like she had nothing to say.

3) Tony was welding something on the Iron Man suit at the very far end of the lab, and his discomfort with so many people in his space was palpable.

"Uhm." she said, and considered the sandwich. "Thanks..."

"Thirteen hours." Jane offered. "It's nearly eleven thirty. You need to get to bed."

"How's James?" she said, and swallowed her mouthful. "Steve's friend?"

"We haven't heard." Thor rumbled, nodding slowly. "But Steven insists that everything is fine, and that they need space. JARVIS has assured us all that they are alive, and well, just talking over matters of a somewhat sensitive nature."

She demolished her sandwiches, leaving one behind.

Casually, she balanced the plate in Dum-E's claw and pointed at Tony, watching the little robot solider so carefully over to the man, knocking his leg gently with the rim of the plate. Tony paused, glanced down, then up at the trio - Darcy waved, and he returned it with a two finger salute.

She exited with two Asgardians in tow. Jane promised she'd be up soon, staying behind to talk to Tony about something science-y, probably.

Life progressed almost in the same vein for three whole days.

Darcy would go down to Tony's lab if he wasn't in it. Or if she wasn't cornered by Clint.

She'd sit with Loki in the lounge on his floor and read Teen Wolf FanFiciton on her phone while he built his next grand house of cards, for as long as she could before someone 'dropped by' and she was either made leave or it was the Black Widow, in which case, Darcy all but fled.

On the third day he showed her a 'clever Midgardian mimic of actual magic', and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out how he was doing what he was doing.

Magic still really got her excited, and she hadn't realized they were just mucking around until Clint walked in to see her kind of half on top of him, trying to pull down his sleeves to see if there were cards in there. They were both laughing - well, she was, but he was chuckling, grinning widely, shaking his head: "No, no, no, Miss Lewis, a magician must keep his secrets!" - and the look he gave them both was actually really scary.

He went over, picked her up, and steered her out. Despite struggling to get his hand off of her forearm, smacking at his knuckles and physically trying to lift his fingers from her skin, he didn't stop marching them to her room, when he entered it and put himself between her and her door.

"You can't keep doing this." he told her. He looked devastated, and old.

"Doing what?" she was kind of bewildered.

"Fraternizing. With him."

She blinked at him.

"Is that what you think I'm doing?"

"I think you're being nice." he said, roughly. "I think you're a good kid, with a big heart, and I think you think you're being nice. But he - he won't know that. He'll think there is something more. If he tries anything with you, Darce-"

"Clint." she said bluntly, and put hands on her hips. "You need to back up with your daddy bullshit, okay? You're smothering me, dude."

"I am not going to let you think he's tame." he said, shaking his head. "I won't. I know what he's capable of. He's bad news."

"Alright, dangerous bad guy, I get it, but he's only human-"

"Only human doesn't mean he isn't dangerous." he said, and jerked a thumb at his chest. "I'm only human too."

"So what, I shouldn't be friends with you because you might put an arrow in my eye, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes." he said. "You shouldn't be friends with me. I got enemies that would catch you and send you back in pieces, because you're friends with me. Why do you think I had to disappear, after the Thing, Darcy? Do you think I wanted to leave? Do you think I wanted to not be there for you?"

She shut her eyes briefly.

"Clint-"

"Darce, I'm never gonna have a family. It's just a fact of my life. But I got you, kid." he clenched his teeth, and she stared at him, kind of blank. "I got you. And I won't let this guy hurt you, not even a little bit, even if you hate me. It would be better if you did."

She braced her head in her hand.

"I don't hate you." she said, sighing hard. "Jesus, Clint. I was just being nice to the guy."

"I know." he said, and leaned against her door a little heavily. "That would be the big heart I was talking about earlier."

"He just needs a chance." she said, planting both hands on her hips. "Friends. Normal stuff. I can-"

"You can." he said, nodding. "But I'd rather you didn't. I don't think he's going to heal because one human girl showed him the time of day."

She had a lot of stuff in her head. She knew Clint loved her, in his own way, knew that he looked on her like the daughter or the sister he would never have, just like she looked on him like the brother she'd never got. But he was infuriatingly stubborn.

"Just leave me alone." she said with no heat, and walked out.

She didn't even pause when she saw Loki looking after her, just walked with her eyes fixed forward. Then she ended up in Tony's lab and was at a laptop, taping the keys with bland determination. After five hours of writing the basics, and a few helpful hints and tricks from JARVIS, she plugged in her tiny robotic friend, and watched it whirr to life.

"Hello." she said, bending down to smile in the cameras. "Can you hear me, ALF?"

The creature had a squeaky wheel, and the lenses adjusted to a more comfortable spec once it rolled closer. Her Artificial Little Friend lifted tiny claws, and snapped the pincers at the end, and bobbed his little head, which made short hissing noises.

"I'm Darcy." she said, and put her hand down flat on the desk. "Would you like to meet the rest of the lab?"

Again, ALF made grabby hands at her, and rolled onto her palm. He wasn't very heavy, but his interior was complex and had taken her a long time to figure out, once she had all the elements she wanted. He looked kind of like a small TV with wheels and arms at his sides, his front and top made up of touch screens.

She petted one now, and ALF's camera eyes shuttered, making the little robot purr at the contact. She beamed. Out of everything, the coding to recognize that as a positive had been the most tricky.

"This is Dum-E." she lowered them down to go camera to camera. "Dum-E, this is ALF."

Dum-E whirled and ticked, and ALF waved one little arm. Then she showed him to U, and Butterfingers, and lifted him to her cheek to rub her nose against his top sensor, making him spew a stream of adorable robot noises, his little claw petting her cheek.

"Do I get an introduction?" Tony was in grubby jeans and what looked like a Captain America comic shirt that had clearly seen better days, peering at the boxy creature in her palm.

"Sure." she was weirdly serene. "This is ALF. ALF, this is Tony."

ALF zoomed in on Tony's face, and lifted a hand in a wave, making himself a little bit taller with the hydraulics in his neck. Darcy held him out carefully, and Tony bent to inspect him, making the little robot's eyes go big to see his face.

"ALF." he repeated.

"Artificial Little Friend." Darcy said, and nodded. "What do you think?"

Carefully, Tony lifted a finger and stroked his top sensor, making ALF's eyes go half lidded and a pleased shudder shake his boxy frame. He petted the belly, and ALF rolled onto his back, wiggling his wheels and tiny arms flat out at his sides. Darcy giggled, and ALF whistled, making Dum-E bump into her legs staring up with an almost petulant whine.

"This is good work, Polly." Tony's smile was small, but there was a heavy warmth in his eyes that she felt weigh around her like a physical touch. "Now I hope you know all the other boys are going to want touch screens."

"Yeah, sorry. He's just, too cute. I needed him to know that I appreciated things." in addition to Tony's petting of the robot's belly, she touched his head, and he made a noise like a sigh.

"Show me the code," Tony said mildly. "For the positive reinforcement thing."

"JARVIS," she said, looking up. "Throw it up."

"With pleasure, Miss Lewis." he said, amused. "Might I add that ALF is functioning to his full potential. It is a very impressive first effort, and if I could manage pride I'd be rather proud."

One of ALF's camera eyes opened a fraction.

"That's JARVIS." Darcy told him, and smiled wide. "He's your dad."

Tony snorted.

"Good evening, young ALF." JARVIS said, very formally.

ALF waved at the roof.

Tony read her coding, poking the hologram while Darcy nursed ALF to her chest and continued rubbing his little presented belly. He hummed, wheels turning in a slow rotation, little claws clicking.

"This is good, Darcy, really good." Tony said, scrolling through the script. "Mind if I use it?"

"Use it?" she repeated. "Don't you wanna alter it, a little?"

"It doesn't need altering." he said, rubbing his chin. "I'm not kidding. It's good."

She looked down at Dum-E, who's claw was pointed down in a sulk, and imagined how much more helpful he could be if he learned through the process of touch-based rewards what he could and couldn't do. She said as much to Tony, who cracked a grin.

"You're not wrong." he said, and flopped into a discarded wheelie chair. "So. Can I?"

"Yeah, like I'm gonna say no." she scoffed. "You were the one who helped me start on him in the first place, and I wouldn't have thought of half the design if I didn't have U or Dum-E for references. JARVIS helped with the coding and programming, so he's the daddy, but you're kind of like his dad, so... You're the grandfather." she held up ALF, smiling into his lens.

"Look, it's grandpa Tony!"

"Please don't get pregnant." Tony muttered, tapping at the keys. "Make as many robot babies as you want. But don't get really pregnant."

"No promises, Steve's lookin' pretty patriotic these days." she joked, but he nearly fell off his chair.

In the grand scheme of things, she should've seen it coming. The whole, you know. Everything is good, and suddenly everything sucks, thing. It wasn't like it didn't happen to her all the time. The problem with this time around was that everything had gotten so good, she kind of forgot to anticipate the bad.

And living with superheros had a sneaky way of making a girl feel infallible.

Steve did eventually show his face on the communal floor, but his pretty friend didn't. They all knew he was up there, but didn't mention it. He was like a dirty secret, and it was genuinely upsetting.

It had been a week since ALF was switched on for the first time and Darcy had to leave him on his charging pad for a few hours to give him a little juice. He was like a toddler - he was still learning so much that he processed and filed hundreds of things in an hour, having to go as fast as his wheels could take him to every destination, so that regular naps were a thing he needed.

Dum-E was absolutely in love with the little bot, following after him and picking him up when he toppled over, hovering when Darcy needed to leave the room, or got in a head space. She heard JARVIS talking to ALF, in low, pleased tones, explaining things to him like why humans needed to evacuate in the bowl and why humans had power sources they needed to chew on.

She hadn't spoken to, or seen, Loki, not for a whole week. And it made her feel like the worst kind of person, but the fact that Clint was finally able to relax soothed that particular burn.

One morning, forgoing sleep once again, she found Steve in the kitchen on their communal floor, when he had a perfectly good one on his own.

"Hey, Cap." she said through a yawn.

He smiled at her.

"Good morning, Darcy. Why're you up so early?"

She would've liked to have told him her bad dreams were coming thick and fast these days, but smiled instead.

"Could ask you the same thing." she pulled up onto the seat next to him. "How's James?"

He put his eyes down on the glass of water between his interlocked hands.

"Better." he said. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Asking." he shrugged one unfairly huge shoulder. "I keep trying to look for places to rent, but every time I set up an appointment or go to make a call, something interferes."

"Work?" she said, but he shook his head.

"I think Tony's got JARVIS under orders to keep me here." he said, sighing. "I don't want to impose, but every time I try'n bring it up I get shot down."

"Do you want to leave?" she asked him.

"I want to help my friend." was his reply. "But it won't help when he feels locked up in the tower. Natasha's nervous about him, Clint is always on her side regardless. Tony won't listen to me when I say we gotta move."

She nodded, then bumped his shoulder with hers.

"Can I go and say hi?"

He stared at her.

"Darcy, you do know who he is, don't you?" at her cocked brow, he realized. "You know exactly who he is. You still want to talk to him?"

"Yes, I do. Not like, right now-" she motioned to her jammies and mess of hair. "But yeah. Maybe if he makes a friend he can come down, and the team will just have to get over themselves."

He quirked a sad smile for her.

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the thought. But it didn't seem to work so good for Loki."

She flinched at the name.

"That's... Complicated."

"Bet it ain't as complicated as him comin' back from the dead, seventy years in the future, with busted memories and metal arm."

"No, but it is complicated that he did, at one stage, just try and take over the world and kill everyone."

"Point." Steve said, sighing. "S'not like I think he'd do you any harm, doll, honest. If I did I wouldn't have him with me."

"You better stop hanging around him so much," Darcy mused. "Your Brooklyn is showing."

He smiled, looked down, staring at the glass dwarfed by his hands.

There was a pause, and within the general vicinity of a superhero, Darcy felt at ease, sleepy. Lulled by the aura of heat from Captain America's mattress sized chest and tree trunk arms, she put her arms up on the counter and her head down on them.

"I-" she said, then paused. "I wanted to be Loki's friend. Wanted to help. But... I'm clearly just a useless intern and I got told I wasn't allowed."

Steve looked at her, studying.

"You're not useless, Darcy." he told her firmly.

"Tell that to Clint."

Realization dawned on him.

"Loki hurt him. Hurt him in ways that I really don't think any of us can understand. Well. Maybe Buck could." his eyes went up, and he looked tired. For someone with the general ability not to get tired, it made her sad. "Had his brain wiped more times than he knows. All of him taken out and somethin' else put in. He's - not broke, but... I don't know how to help him. I ain't never had it done to me, and all the studies are hypothetical."

Darcy, thinking on more than one level at all times, sat up slightly, honing in on Steve. He turned to her, watched her eyes narrow, the pull in her brows, all the thoughts swirling and churning and becoming a scheme behind her eyes. He blinked.

"You know," he said slowly. "If I gotta stop hangin' 'round Bucky cause my Brooklyn's showing, you gotta stop hangin' 'round Tony. I know that face. That's a Stark face."

She smirked.

It was only mildly worrying she looked exactly like their resident mechanic.

"Solutions." she said, nodding. "I have them. My main problem is that I want to be friends with Loki. He can't progress by himself, can't have opportunities to do anything if all he does is magic tricks in front of his laptop. No one else is interested in trying with him - or able to - aside from Thor, but a lot of Loki's hurt is based on his brother, so he's gotta start healing before he can take over. I can't help, because Clint won't put up with it, right?"

"Right."

"Your main problem is most people are pretty nervous about James, Natasha mostly, but Clint's all the way behind her. Everyone is super suss about the metal arm and the literal history of violence and such. You don't get his head-wiping and by the look of things, Steve, I'd say you're getting pretty upset about it."

He looked at the glass.

"Right."

"So. If we make Clint and James friends, they could get their PTSD on. And then I could be friends with Loki and try and help him."

Steve let that thought tick over.

"Make Clint and Bucky friends... so you can sneak around with Loki?"

"More or less."

He shrugged.

"I'd have to talk to Buck about it. But it's not without merit - it's actually a pretty good idea." he wet his lip. "Problem is the rest of the team. Natasha, Tony... they're both protective. Natasha of me, Tony of you."

"Thor." she said. "And Jane. JARVIS. And maybe Bruce. I don't know, I'll figure out Bruce. If we keep Tony minimally distracted, he won't notice my absence without Clint or JARVIS in his ear. Thor is gonna be in it for Loki's well-being, and Natasha... You're bros, you deal with her."

"I can do that." he looked at her then, really looked at her. The pile of tangled curls, the sleep wear all rumpled, and the brightness of her eyes. "It's a little bit sneaky, though. We shouldn't be doin' this to the team."

"The team shouldn't have started governing who we can be friends with." she retorted, and huffed, rubbing her eyes. "Sorry. I'm snappy. I'm not snappy at you, just... Clint made me feel so guilty, about it. He gave me an ultimatum. And I love him and he's like, my father figure, brother, you know, but he shouldn't have that much control over me, okay?"

"No, he shouldn't. Can't say I blame him - it makes me nervous too - but Darcy, Loki hasn't done anything but hide out and watch YouTube videos, and it's only because you showed him how. I know a thing or two about redemption and... you're right. If he ain't got opportunities..." he looked at his glass, took a long pull.

"I'll come up and say hi regardless." she promised him, patting his watermelon sized bicep in what she hoped was a reassuring way and not a grabby way. "Just... You talk to Clint first. And I'll work with JARVIS. They're spies, I'm sure they'll get it if they find out."

"When." Steve said. "When, they find out."

"Psh." she flapped a hand at him. "What's the worst that could happen?"