Everyone stared at her. She looked up from her piece of pizza, surprised at their awkward stares, and gave a small smile. "Um... this is kinda creepy..." she admitted.

Instantly, Steve had quietly averted his gazer and Natasha's eyes snapped back into focus, while Clint simply stared into the bottom of his mug and took a long pull of beer.

Bruce pushed his glasses farther up his nose, and Thor tried to stop staring at her mournfully.

Amy, for her part, looked over at Tony, her expression confused. "I... I know I was gone for awhile. Did I... did I do something, say something, to make you guys upset?"

"No!" Steve rushed to reassure her, blue eyes suddenly anxious, and she herself looked startled at how fast he'd reacted. But she could see it in all their eyes- the way they studied here- could see the pity evident in their eyes, mixed with a healthy dose of wariness in some cases, all thrown together with shock... It made for a lot of awkward staring. Especially considering she had no idea what she'd done to make them feel like this.

"I... I didn't want to steal from SHIELD. That is what this is about, right? My Dad, he convinced me..."

"It wasn't your Dad, kid." Clint got out. In truth- he was angry. Angry someone would take advantage of a kid like that, use the voice of her dead father to coerce her into espionage, torture... HE had no idea how the girl was still alive, truthfully. And- judging by the way Nat was glaring- the theory that everything was a set up hadn't been completely dispelled yet.

"You already apologized for that, Amy." Steve's voice was gentle, but his gaze was heavy. He stared at the food in front of him, recalling the way she'd cried, begged for forgiveness, before she;d lifted that brown bottle to her lips... I never meant for any of this to happen. I did my best to end it all here...

He couldn't forget the sight of her vomiting blood, glassy-eyed, writhing in pain as she tried desperately to end it all... No child should have to do that.

And her sitting here before him- mercifully, without any memory of what she'd endured- was nearly too much for him to take. In all honesty, he blamed himself. He'd walked in on her crying that night. She'd lied about feeling ill, he was certain now, he could've done something to stop this, all of this... He found it hard to meet her eyes.

Natasha was silent, Clint stared into his beer, and Thor and Bruce were openly looking at her with sympathy. It just heightened her discomfort. There had to be a REASON they were treating her like this. But she didn't know what it was. She couldn't remember- and no one would tell her. Her hopes of things returning to normal were dashed.

"I'll be in my room." she said quietly, mumbling some half-assed excuse to disappear from the uncomfortable environment. The doors of her room slid shut behind her, and Tony took the moment to glare at everyone sitting at the table. "Way to welcome her back." he nearly spat, brown eyes sparking with unsaid rage.

"What do you expect us to do?" Natasha asked, looking up at him cryptically. "She betrayed us- all of us. It's possible she's still playing us, that her entire suicide and the destruction of the base was a set up..."

Tony's glass of scotch slammed down on the table and he stood, chair clattering to the floor behind him as he began to angrily pace.

"You seriously believe that? After EVERYTHING..."

"We've yet to disprove it. I'm being cautious here, Tony- or tell me- how did she go from vomiting blood in a doomed HYDRA base to showing up in her room the next morning? Explain it, and I'll dispel the thoughts that everything is staged."

"I... you've SEEN her! You saw what happened to her in that facility, the way they beat her on camera- you saw her just now. She has no idea what happened." He glared at her as he spoke, wishing he could make Natasha simply understand...

He was simply met by serious blue eyes, and he sighed, exasperated. "She is THIRTEEN. I seem to remember hearing something about YOU doing some trivial things in your teenage years." Tony's eyes flashed, as did Natasha's, at the mention of the assassin's past.

"I don't have to deal with this." she growled, standing from the table.

"You're right, you don't- so why don't you leave?" Tony asked, stepping closer and glaring at her.

"Tony. Nat- let's just calm down..." Bruce, ironically, was being the peacekeeper here, standing and putting his hands up in an attempt to pacify them both.

Steve was still lost in his own mind, blaming himself, Thor was uncertain what to do at all, and Clint just watched everything unfold as he looked over the rim of his beer mug.

Everyone felt the tension for a moment, before with a flash of red hair Natasha stalked off, leaving the room simply full of males.

Tony sank back down in his chair, grabbing a fresh glass of scotch and taking a long pull before he looked up at everyone else.

"Well? You think she's a traitor to, then?"

"I believe she was exploited." Thor said solemnly. "I feel she was taken advantage of unjustly, and her return... is a gift from the norns. It should not be questioned- only accepted."

Tony blinked, surprised something so deep had come from the Asgardian, but nodded, glad he was more accepting than Natasha.

"Bruce?

"I don't blame her. I mean... they pretended to be her Dad. She wanted it to be true, so she believed it, and they just... Yeah. We should be cautious, though. I'm NOT saying she's a traitor..." he amended quickly when he saw Tony bristle. "I'm just saying that a lot has happened under unknown circumstances, and we should approach the whole thing with caution so nobody gets hurt."

Tony nodded, accepting the logical response. His gaze lingered on Bruce's for a moment- he appreciated his friend's support.

He turned to Clint, who'd still said nothing. The man looked up from his beer glass. "I'm glad she's alive." he admitted. He said nothing more, not wanting to be at war between Natasha and Tony, but apparently the answer was good enough for Tony, as he turned to Steve, then.

"What about you, Steve?"

"I'm glad she's back. I think she's telling the truth." he managed. He would go back and re-play what he could've done, should've done- but not here. Not now. That was something he did when he laid awake at night, haunted by memories...

"So where does this leave us?" Bruce asked, and Tony sighed, resting his head in his hand. "I have no idea." he admitted. "We'll have to take it at one step a time."

From the other side of her door, Amy was leaning against the wall, tears dripping down her face.

She felt incredibly confused- violated, almost. She had lost a few days if her life, with absolutely no memory of what she'd done... But it was clear that whatever it was, they hated her for it. She could see it in the way Natasha watched let warily, like she was a threat, in the way Clint was focused wholly on his beer glass, and when Steve didn't meet her eyes... That had probably hurt the most out of everything. Steve was second only to Tony in her world. It was crushing to know that whatever she'd managed to do had disgusted him to the point where he couldn't even look at her.

She had no idea what it was she'd done- but she had to fix it, had to redeem herself somehow, before it tore them apart.

Thank you so much for all your reviews. Unfortuneately, at the moment, I don't have time to do a mailbag feature so I'll be brief- Loki isn't just a scapegoat here.

My reasoning and results will be revealed IN THE FUTURE! Please review!