Ok: I think/hope I'm back on my normal schedule for updating now. Just in time for the story to ALMOST be over. There's still three, maybe four chapters left to go. After that, it's on to the sequel. But that's getting ahead of myself. As for now: enjoy!

It had been three days since Schmidt's little foray against the tower. Now that the novelty had worn off and the panic had died down, Darcy found herself more curious than scared over what Schmidt was going to do next. They knew that he was angry; they had taken the treasure he had been after, Loki had lied to him and played him, and he just really seemed to not like them. They knew he was after Loki; the note had been that evident. Maybe he didn't have an interest in the rest of them, maybe getting back at Loki would be enough for him. Hopefully.

Loki was currently up with Stark at the bar. Stark had asked to have a little conversation with him, just the two of them. Everyone else had already gone to bed for the night, which meant that Darcy was waiting up for Loki in their bedroom. She had just taken the most relaxing bath of her life, but to her surprise, Loki hadn't gotten back yet when she finished. His meeting with Stark was taking forever, and Darcy was growing impatient.

Finally, Darcy heard the door open slowly, like Loki was trying not to wake her.

"I'm still up," she called out to him.

The door closed and Loki appeared around the corner a moment later. His eyes were weary as he looked over her.

"What's wrong?" Darcy rose from the bed and went to him. Before getting to him, he stepped back. Her hand had been outstretched to reach to him, but she dropped it to her side. "What happened?" she asked quietly, wanting more than anything to reach out and comfort him.

There was a part of his face, just above the corner of his mouth, that twitched. Oh god, he's fighting off crying. What happened to him?

"Stark said that everyone should leave the tower. You, Jane, and Thor go back to Cambridge, the others all return to their homes,"

"Loki—"

"The jet leaves tomorrow morning. The three of you will return to Cambridge, where you will be safe."

"But what about you?" Now Darcy was the one fighting off tears.

"Stark says that I can stay here with him and Pepper since Schmidt already knows that I'm here. I will wait for Schmidt to come for me here."

"But you don't have to send us away. We can stay with you," Her expression broke as tears escaped her. "I can stay with you,"

"I can't ask that of you. In all honesty, Schmidt is probably going to kill me. It'll be better if you're far away from here, far away from me, when that happens. That way Schmidt can take out his anger and be done with us."

"Loki, no. I won't leave you. I won't let you face that alone," Darcy tried to reach out and touch his face, but Loki stepped back again.

"I am not safe to be around. All of you will leave the tower, leave me, and I will let Schmidt do what he will. If I'm still alive when it's over and I believe it to be safe, I'll return to you. That is, if you'll want me back."

"Of course I'll want you back. I love you," Darcy brought her arms together, wrapping them around herself. Tears were openly flowing from her eyes and Loki was refusing to let her touch him for some reason. Worse than that, she felt like her heart was being ripped out. "I love you, and that is exactly why I want to stay here with you. You're it for me. I won't abandon you."

"I've told you before, you are my priority. I will not let you stand in the line of fire because someone is after me. You will go back to England if I have to put you on the jet myself."

Darcy didn't know what came over her, but just after he finished speaking, she slapped him across the face. She hated what he was saying and he wouldn't let her touch him in a less gentle way. His expression said that he believed he deserved that, but more than that, it didn't really seem to faze him.

"Stop that. Stop talking." Darcy said. "You're trying to talk me into something I will never be for, and it won't work. You're trying to make me leave you when you're in danger, but I won't. This relationship is a two-way street. You wouldn't leave me if I were the one in danger no matter what I said,"

"Yes, but—"

"Don't you dare say 'but that's different.' It's not different. We're not misogynists here. You wouldn't leave me, and I'm not leaving you. Please, Loki,"

"Darcy," His face slid from begging to absolutely broken. "Schmidt is going to kill me, regardless of whether you are here or not. We can't beat him, we can't fight him, we can't even find him unless he shows up right in front of us. He is going to come for me. Now, call this a last request, but I do not want you to be here when he does. He will exploit my love for you, just to make me suffer more. He will hurt you to hurt me, or when he is done with me he'll kill you too just because he's bored and he feels like it. If he kills me— when he kills me— it would not be as bad if I knew in the back of my head that you were safe. You can live your life, find someone else, have a family. When Schmidt carries out his revenge, you will be free to live your life."

"Loki, I don't want to. I don't want to live my life without you," Darcy knew that sounded extremely clingy, especially for a seven week relationship, but she didn't give a fuck. It was wholly and completely true.

"Please," He was begging her. She could see the desperation on his face, mixed right in with the pain.

She reached out to him yet again, slowly, like she was reaching out to a wild animal. When he moved away from her again, the pain cut deep.

"Why won't you let me touch you?" she asked quietly.

"Because," Loki began, staring straight into her. His voice was small and broken, "If I touch you, I won't be able to let you go."

"Loki," Darcy sobbed out, her heart successfully breaking in two.

She saw Loki's willpower weaning as she simply stood before him. She watched as the internal struggle showed on his face, playing out a war in his eyes, and then one side of him beat the other. He stepped to her, wrapping his arms around her so tightly she thought she'd burst. He kissed her with a need she felt deep within him. Loki seemed to realize he was holding her rather forcefully and his hold on her eased up a little.

Darcy felt herself being lowered back onto the bed, Loki's mouth still connected as they went back. He removed her clothing slowly and gently, running his hands over her so softly she could barely feel him. He quickly removed his own clothing before returning to support himself over her. Starting at her mouth, he kissed slowly over to her ear and then down her neck.

"I love you so much," he whispered before pressing his lips to her throat, "my dear, sweet, beautiful Darcy,"

He kissed every inch of her body, taking his time with her. He was gentle, extremely thorough, and had an air of finality in his actions. When he finished softly exploring her with his mouth, he returned to her lips, taking her mouth with his own again. His hands caressed her more than touched her, re-memorizing her skin. He entered her with a roll of his hips just as Darcy brought her hands up to hold his face. One hand slid around to the back of his head, running through his hair.

If this moment were to have a sound besides that of the whimpers and moans that were already present, Darcy imagined it would be something like a symphony full of strings and maybe a grand piano performing the saddest song they knew. Not sad, necessarily. Melancholy. That was a good word for it. Bittersweet. Some song with parts where one could mistake the tone for bliss instead of sorrow. That was what this was: bliss in the midst of sorrow. Whatever sound it was that actually belonged here would be like that. Darcy found it difficult to think about that as she and Loki found their rhythm and pleasure rose within her. She was kissing him again as much as she could, between a groan from him and a whimper from her. They finally climaxed together and Loki collapsed on her. When he tried to roll off of her, she held him there. Eventually Loki rolled partially off of her and they both turned, facing each other as they lay.

Loki looked like he was ready to go to sleep. Darcy pulled him close to her, holding him for what was most likely the last time. She worked both of them to position them so that his head was on her chest. Running her fingers lightly through his hair, she felt him drift slowly off to sleep. As much as she fought it, sleep eventually took her as well.

Darcy was only partially awake; she currently rested in that land where one wasn't awake but they were fairly aware of what was going on around them. She felt Loki's arms around her retreat and the bed rise as his weight was removed. The sound of him pulling on his pants and shirt and whatnot filled the room.

After hearing him walk around the bed, she heard something being put down on the bedside table. And then Loki was kneeling down beside the bed. He kissed her on the forehead lightly before standing up and walking out the door.

The second the door closed, Darcy snapped up. On the bedside table, there was a folded up piece of paper; Loki had actually left her a note as he left her. If this were any more cliché, he'd make it up to me by holding a boom box over his head as he apologized.

"My dear Darcy," she read aloud quietly to herself.

I'm so sorry. I left so that I would not be tempted to stop you from leaving later on today. Someone will come for you when it is time for you to leave. You will not truly be safe, I am afraid, until you are back in Cambridge. As long as you are around me, you will be in danger. Since I cannot protect you actively here, I must protect you through omission and distance. My only wish is that we had longer together.

All my love, Loki

Darcy stared blankly at the page. It took a moment for the words to sink in, for her to realize the meaning behind the symbols. She threw the paper, pushing it away from her, letting it fall to the floor. She sat there in pure shock of the situation for probably fifteen minutes before pulling her legs up to her body and wrapping her arms around them. She would not cry— she refused to cry. She had done enough of that lately. She was pretty sure she couldn't cry if she wanted to; her emotions were all too raw right now, too in shock.

A loud knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Jane called in, "Darcy? We're leaving for the airport in about an hour. Do you want any help packing?"

Darcy looked over herself: naked, curled up in a ball, too in shock to even manage tears. She didn't particularly want anyone seeing her like this. "No, I'm good."

"All right. Be upstairs when it's time,"

Darcy forced herself to roll out of bed after a few minutes. She slowly dressed, pushing herself through the motions. She packed up her clothes, mindlessly throwing her belongings into her bag. Her mind was somehow racing while thinking about absolutely nothing, resulting in a slight headache that she did her best to ignore.

Once finished, she sat on the end of the bed, waiting for the time to leave to come. She could barely think about Loki without a deep pain entering her heart— what she was worried about was how long that would last. Just thinking about that though made her start shaking.

This is pathetic. He left me, and now I'm a trembling mess. Really, I'm pathetic. I can do this; I can pull through. I'm not going to be the girl who is completely destroyed for the rest of her life because of a breakup. I will not be a Miss Havisham. Maybe I should start playing 'I Will Survive'…

Darcy stood up. Maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to get over this. Loki had left her for a good reason… he was going to die. The weight of that memory/realization almost knocked her over. She sat back down on the bed as her legs began failing her. Leaving her for a good reason, she could handle. Loki's death was something she would probably never get over.

As she thought over this, she didn't even hear the strange noise coming from outside. Well, it wasn't strange; it just didn't belong there and was very loud. The noise belonged to the helicopter that was approaching the side of the tower. Darcy most definitely noticed what followed: the side of the building exploding, sending her flying into the opposite wall and knocking her unconscious.