When she woke next, she felt a lot better rested than she had the day before. Her head was clear and the light didn't burn so much.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, walking over to her calmly, clip board in hand.

"Better." Darcy said, in a surprisingly good mood for a morning. "I'm starving though."

The doctor smiled again. "Yes, being fed by a tube will do that. I'll have someone bring you some food down. You passed the tests yesterday but I just need to do a quick check up."

The tests took less than ten minutes, much quicker than they had been the day before for which Darcy was very thankful. The doctor removed some bandages from her arm and told her that she'd been on an IV drip for a while. Darcy was glad she hadn't woken up while on it, she wasn't fond of needles and probably would have yanked it out, even with Jane's rants every film they watched that 'you must never , ever do that Darcy, those things are in you for a reason'.

The doctor showed her a small bathroom at the end of her room so Darcy was able to take a ridiculously long hot shower to wash off the rest of her grogginess. She liked hot showers anyway, it was the only way she felt clean but this was like rebirth.

There was no hairdryer so Darcy settled for plaiting her hair into two long braids. Jane had moved some clothes into her room for her when she first arrived so she was even able to get dressed into something other than a hospital gown which she would deny she ever wore in the first place.

By the time she returned, her food had arrived along with Jane.

"Hey." Darcy greeted. Jane was sat in the chair next to the bed with some journals spread open on her lap.

Jane looked up like a startled rabbit. "Oh hi, sorry I was just-"

Darcy waved away her explanations, she was used to Jane going sciencey. "It's fine." Darcy said, hopping onto the bed on top of the sheet and pulling the tray of lasagne towards her. It must have been quite late for her to be served dinner food. She wondered how out of sync she was but turned her attention back to her food.

It was a disappointingly small portion. She stuck a forkful in her mouth hungrily.

"How are you feeling?" Jane asked her.

"Better." Darcy said. "Fine actually. I guess I can come help you and Banner in the labs today."

She took another bite, eying Jane's reaction carefully. As predicted, Jane looked away at that moment. "Yeah." Jane said, her voice wavering slightly. "Oh I forgot to say. Your mom phoned about a week ago asking when you'd be over for Christmas. Don't worry, it's all arranged plane tickets bought and everything."

"What?" Darcy asked sharply.

"I thought you would..." Jane looked disappointed, she'd clearly expected it to be a pleasant surprise. Darcy sighed, she couldn't blame Jane. It's wasn't like she ranted openly about her family, she just kind of ignored them in the hope they'd ignore her. It wasn't even like she had anything to rant about either, they weren't bad people they just didn't get along.

"It's fine. Thank you." Darcy said. "But what about Loki?"

"He would go too." Jane said.

Darcy stared at her to see if she was joking. She could just imagine walking up to her traditional mother with leather clad Loki and introducing him as the Norse

God of Mischief. "You expect me to take Loki with me to see my family?"

Jane shrugged. "It was Fury's idea. He thought you could introduce him as your boyfriends or something."

"My what?!" Darcy stuttered. They were joking. They had to be joking.

"You can sort out the details later. Anyway, I brought you this. It's a simplified version of the bridge, thought you might want to read it." Darcy was still trying to process all the stuff about Loki and Christmas but she figured she could think about it later. She was very good at putting off thoughts. She focused on the book.

"Right," Darcy said through lasagne, trying to show some enthusiasm. "Yeah."

She took the battered book and attempted to read it but it was still way over her head. Instead she skimmed the bits she understood. "Woah." She said, on her final bite of lasagne. She was surprisingly full. "Is this right?"

She pointed to the figure Jane had written. Jane leant over and checked it.

"Yes." She confirmed.

"Jane that's a lot of energy." Darcy pointed out.

"I know."

"Yeah but we can't make that kind of energy!" Darcy added. Jane looked like she was on the verge of correcting something she'd said. You probably couldn't make energy or something but Jane didn't mention it.

"True." Jane said slowly. "But I think I know someone who can."

At that moment they heard running outside in the corridor. They both looked up simultaneously, to each other and back to the door. In seconds they were joining the people running along the corridor.

"What's going on?" Darcy shouted.

"I don't know!" Jane shouted back from next to her.

Everyone was gathering in a room at the end. Darcy and Jane entered. It was one of the information rooms, they had one on every floor but Darcy had never seen one so busy. Everyone was surrounding a TV screen where a news report was playing.
"...gathered around millionaire Tony Stark's home in Malibu which just a few moments ago was the scene of a mass organised attack by The Mandarin. Mr Stark, best known for his invention of the Iron Man suit and his participation in The Battle of New York, had previously taunted The Mandarin to come.

"Having given out his address a few days ago, Mr Stark was assumed to have gone into hiding but it has been confirmed that he, his partner, CEO of Stark Industries; Miss Virginia "Pepper" Potts and scientist; Maya Hansen were present when the Mandarin attacked. Miss Potts and Dr Hansen are well but there has been no sign of Mr Stark. The search continues but at this stage hope of survival is very slim. Mr Stark is presumed dead."

Everyone in the room started talking, drowning the rest of report out. Darcy turned to Jane whose face was ashen.

She opened her mouth to speak but the loudspeaker blared over her. "Everyone stay calm." Fury's voice said. Darcy sent a querying look at Jane who shook her head. So Fury wasn't on base. She assumed every SHIELD compound was hearing this then. "Stark ain't dead. We've picked up the suit's energy signature. I want you finding him. Everyone return to your normal duties."

The intercom beeped out. "Well that was dramatic." Darcy said cheerily.

"Hey!" A voice shouted at her. She looked up to see a guard walking towards her. He was dark skinned and almost as big as Thor had been. She didn't recognise him. "You aren't supposed to be out."

"Out of where?" She asked. "The hospital room? Yeah but I'm fine now."

Jane was looking guilty, only staring at the floor.

"You were supposed to be taken downstairs when you woke up." He said gruffly.

"I was?" She asked, glancing at Jane.

"Yeah, taken to your buddy." He said, annoyed.

"Loki?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes." The man confirmed. Darcy grinned.

"Great. I have some choice words for him." She said, the man gripped her arm which she didn't think was entirely necessary but she let him anyway because she couldn't really be bothered to protest.

"See you later!" She called to Jane.

They got the lift to the floor below. The number of the floor slid into view as the door opened. Floor 14. The holding cells. There weren't many because the New Mexico base was primarily for research but there were enough for emergencies. Apparently that's what she qualified as.

She gave the guard a look of disgust.

"Don't worry." He said, surprisingly gently. "It's only for a few days until the people up above think of something else."

"Yeah well they can go fuck themselves." She told him. Eloquent as ever. Jane had known about this. Jane was going to pay.

He snorted softly and led her to a stop about halfway down. There were guards at every single door. The one outside this one scanned her card across it to open it.

The cell was small but clean and made of metal like the training rooms. A padded bench ran along the furthest edge of the cell. Loki was sprawled across it in the far corner, one of his hands handcuffed to a hook on the wall.

He jumped up when he saw her, a look of shocked happiness on his face. She had to refrain from smiling, it was nice that he was so happy to see her but he'd change his mind soon after she started shouting at him. She had a lot of shouting planned. Thank God her throat was better.

"Darcy." He breathed with relief. She nodded at him, not trusting herself to speak with the guard present.

The one that was stationed outside the door handed a set of handcuffs to the one that had led her there. She raised her eyebrows at him sceptically.

"You have got to be kidding me." She said.

The guard shrugged. "Sorry, standard procedure."

She rolled her eyes, she couldn't really hold it against the guard guard though it didn't stop her feeling annoyed with both of them. Fury however would be getting an earful when she got out. The guard gestured for her to sit on the opposite side of the bench to Loki and he cuffed her hand to a metal hook on her side.

The guard nodded and left, the cell door shutting firmly behind him, sealing her in with Loki.

"Darcy," He started.

Her head snapped to face him. "You used magic." She said calmly with a hint of hardness to her voice.

He looked slightly taken aback at her directness. "I...yes I did." He admitted.

"A lot of magic." She added.

He hesitated and nodded.

"Why?" She asked.

"I can't tell you." He answered quickly.

She leant back against the wall and stretched her legs out along the bench before raising her head to stare at him coldly. "Why not?"

"Because I can't." He snapped.

Her face remained the same but she lowered her voice.

"Why not?" She repeated.

"Because I can't." He repeated again, angrier this time.

Her hand that was chained to the peg hung limply slightly level to her shoulder meaning that the cold hand cuff was cutting into her skin but she ignored it. She would get answers.

"You used magic." She said, the same monotonous tone to her voice.

He said nothing.

"And you can't tell me why." She added.

He remained silent.

"Jane said they didn't think I'd wake up." She told him, the coldness in her voice cutting at him like a knife edge. "I almost died and you won't tell me why."

"It's better if you don't know." He said calmly, his eyes pleading with her to accept that which only infuriated her more.

"I ALMOST DIED, LOKI!" She shouted at him. "Do you not care about that?"

"Of course I do." He retorted angrily, standing up.

"I mean for more than the stupid magical reasons!" She shouted back, standing up too. "I mean don't you care that I almost died?"

"I...yes." He said, looking as though it pained him to admit it.

"Then why," She asked tears filling her eyes. She'd thought she'd got past the point of him caring as her only as a magical hostage. Apparently she was wrong. "Did you think that it was worth risking my life to do your little magic trick?"

"I can't tell you." He said slowly, sneering each word as if to a child.

"What because that knowledge is too much for me?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yes, it is." He growled.

"Urgh!" She screamed. "You pretentious, horse-fucking bastard! That is not your choice to make!"

"If there was another way then I would have done it." He said calmly, regaining control in the face of her fury.

"And you can't tell me why?" She asked, her pitch rising.

"It is not my duty to tell you anything." He sneered. "You are human."

"Oh don't you fucking dare go back to your 'Asgardian prince holier than thou' routine. Yes I am human. I'm Darcy Lewis. I'm the woman who wakes you up in the morning. The one who lends you books. The one who knows your big M word secret. And, oh yeah, that's right, the one who you almost just kill-"

Her words dissolved into a scream as the world shook and she went slamming into the side of the wall. A blast went off in her ears so loud that she could only hear ringing. Dust was raining from the ceiling and parts were falling down.

The whole world was falling apart. Or so it seemed.

A chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling, smashing into her leg. Her frightened shreak morphed into a scream of pain as more rubble fell. She coughed on the dust as the world span around her. She shut her eyes to protect them from the dust. When she could no longer feel it raining down on her face, she opened them.

She blinked a few times as the rubble cleared. It was still falling but Loki was over her, protecting her from the worst.

"What was that?" She asked through dust.

"Shh." He whispered urgently. She stayed still, trying to ignore the burning pain in her leg which was making her vision go black at the edges.

Finally the world stopped shaking and she could see the wreckage. The structure was still standing but the walls around them had caved in so that a maze of wreckage was formed, rubble in every direction. They were lucky the entire compound hadn't collapsed. The smell of burning hung heavily in the air wrenched apart only by the shrill screams emanating in the distance.

She shoved the plaster off her leg with a lot of effort, biting her tongue to stop from screaming from the pain and thankful she still had some painkillers in her system. Her ankle felt pretty smashed.

"This was no accident." Loki said, his voice low and serious.

At the moment he said that they could hear bullets being fired.

"Someone's ambushing SHIELD?" She asked, panicked. SHIELD was supposed to be untouchable. Loki glanced towards the exit.

For a moment she thought he was going to leave her, after all what better time to escape? He hadn't cared about her dying when he did magic, he clearly didn't care about leaving her now. She felt a punch of betrayal and cursed herself. Any idiot would have it in to their heads by now that Loki didn't care but

Darcy kept managing to convince herself otherwise.

But he couldn't leave her. He could be next door or the floor below but further than that and they'd both be writhing on the floor. As if remembering it at the same time as she did, he turned back to her.

"Can you walk?" He demanded.

"Dude, you're lucky I'm still conscious." She replied.

His lips curled up in disgust but he leant over and wrapped an arm behind her back and another below her leg so that he was carrying her. She bit her tongue so much she tasted blood as her ankle flicked but he noticed this and re-arranged his hands.

He picked his way through the rubble out of what used to be the cell door. Darcy tossed her broken handcuff off of her right wrist, the wall it was attached to barely still standing, and wrapped the arm closest to Loki round his neck so that she was easier to carry. She didn't want to be any more of a burden.

"We need to get out before the support gives way." She told him.

"Yes I'm well aware." He snapped.

He made it outside the now redundant cell wall before he stopped. The guard that had been outside the cell hadn't been as lucky as they had, she'd been hit in the head by one of the metal support beams, her crumpled form lying bleeding on the floor, covered in dust.

Darcy's hand gripped Loki's leather collar. His face fell to the woman with a passive glance. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the woman. Death seemed to have such a quiet captivation over her, she was unable to look away from the scarlet blood blazing against the pallid skin. She recalled the anger she'd felt towards the woman as she'd been locked in the cell, the woman whose name she did not know but who now lay dead, one among countless others that she could see scattered across the hallway.

"We need protection." Loki's voice told her calmly.

She frowned at him. "Like what?"

"Like the weapons found on your agents." Loki said simply.

"No." She said, eyes widening in horror. "No we can't...we can't rifle through dead people's possessions!"

"At this moment we have no choice." Loki said, crouching down next to the woman, balancing Darcy on his knee. It would have been romantic were the circumstances different. "And I don't think they will miss them, if it's any consolation."

"This is stupid!" She protested, dust was still raining from the ceiling. "We can't waste time, the whole place will collapse!"

Loki leant over to the woman's pockets, running his pale hands through them in desperate and quick search. "What is waiting up there is far worse, believe me."

"How do you know so much about it?" She demanded. "Why can't you just tell me for once?"

"Can you use this?" He asked, handing her a small black box.

"Yeah sure," She said, distracted for a moment with a slight grin. "It's a taser, I once got your big bro with one."

"You will have to tell me." Loki said distractedly without a hint of a smile. He was still focused on finding something else. "A gun though it is beneath me and above you..."

"Hey!" He threw the gun to the side.

"Ahh!" He said happily, pulling a dagger out of a holder on her belt. "Right, now we go."

He slipped the dagger into a compartment hidden in the leather and in one swift moment had picked her up and was running. He wasn't looking at her, his focus undivided from the task at hand.

"We can't go straight up," She said. "We have to check Jane's okay."

"She was with the monster, I believe she will be fine." He said.

"You don't know that!"

"We do not have time to check. We must get away from here."

"What?" She asked, looking up at him. "Get away from here? How are we supposed to do that?"

They heard movement from the end of the hallway and froze. Darcy could feel Loki's heart beating incessantly quickly and felt her own race to meet his. Loki was scared, or at the very least anticipating something scary and that was good enough for Darcy to believe she wanted to be a thousand miles away.

She heard footsteps running towards them. At first she thought they were SHIELD agents as they were dressed in navy but as they reached them she saw that it darker, almost black. Their faces were covered but they all seemed to be following one person in front.

There were five of them, carrying huge guns that made the guard's pistols look like water guns. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have been quite so scared, after all she had a God on her side. However, currently that God was carrying her and rather out of practice.

Her heart hammered in her chest, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Loki's arms tightened around her protectively.

"Give us the girl." The man in the front said.

Her hand on Loki's collar tightened even more, sudden panic building in her. Loki wouldn't give her up, if for no other reason than because the magic between them meant he couldn't.

To her surprise, he smiled. He was perfectly still and she realised he'd expected this to happen, none of it surprising him.

He pulled her as close to him as possible so that she was curled up against his chest, her vision went black and the next thing she was conscious of was snow falling against her face.

Chapter Title from Brighten's I'll Carry You. Apparently I scared some people with my message on the last chapter. Whilst I would love to remind some of you that there are far worse things that can happen to characters than death...I feel that would be rude so I guess I'll just say that I will try to be nice in this fic. (I'm sorry, fic writing is too much power...Is this how Moffat feels?)

Oh and I think some people were concerned about the tests SHIELD were running? I assure you they were purely medical.

As always thank you for the reviews and have a great New year. Thanks for reading.