She woke up with a deep gasp and ran on silent feet into Steve's room. A year ago it would have been Clint's she fled to for comfort. The sun hadn't even come up yet so she slipped in, feeling her way through the dark.

Perched on the edge of his bed, she nudged him gently until he woke up. When he saw her—pale and wide-eyed—he sat up and gathered her form to him. "What did Loki want this time?" he asked.

"He showed me… the life we could have together. What… what our children might look like," she managed to get out. She could practically feel Steve's eyebrows shoot into his hairline. "There was a little girl with black hair and purple eyes. Probably five years old. And a little toddler boy with my hair and Loki's eyes. It was almost… it was almost scary. To be perfectly honest." She wrapped her arms tighter around his waist and clenched her jaw. She was trying not to be a complete coward afraid of her own dreams, but Loki frightened her with his absolute faith that she would one day fall in love with him.

"Hey," Steve started, using one hand to tilt her head up to look him in the eye. "I can't say I blame him on his choice of the best young woman on the planet. However, he can't have you. Because you're mine." He wrapped one hand gently around the back of her neck and gave her a warm, soft kiss. She relaxed into his muscled chest and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

They were just moving to make it deeper when the door opened—silently—and the light turned on. Violet-Sky—turning a bright shade of scarlet—moved away and turned. Leaned against the door frame was an assassin with an amused grin. "Natasha—let me explain—" Steve started to stutter. The redhead held up her hand to silence and was chuckling.

"You don't have to apologize to me. I just heard noises. I was watching a really weird drama on TV I hope to never see again. Thought I'd come up and see what was going on. I can't say I'm particularly surprised though. You two aren't exactly discreet."

"Promise you won't tell Clint?" Violet-Sky mumbled, still red in the face, brushing some of her tangled hair out of her face. "Please?"

"Promise. I don't want him to kill either of you. We need you." The redhead turned the light off and retreated out of the room, shutting the door behind her with an amused, knowing smirk plastered all over her features. Violet-Sky fell back, sprawling her hair over the quilt.

"That. Was. Embarrassing," she remarked. Steve smirked and tapped her nose playfully.

"How much more embarrassing would it have been if you were on Asgard, woke up in bed with Loki, and Clint walked in?"

Violet-Sky rolled her purple eyes. "Don't even make me imagine a scene like that!" she protested.

"Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"I don't even want to think about waking up in bed with Loki."

"Here. How about I walk you to your room and tuck you in? Maybe you'll sleep better," Steve offered. Before she could accept or decline, he threw his covers off his legs and scooped her into his arms. She bit back a shriek of alarm as he walked her to her room, set her on her bed, and pulled her blankets up to her chin. "Sleep well, little queen," he whispered. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead as she glared at him when he said queen. "You'll be better in the morning. I promise." Smoothing her hair out of her face, he slid out of the room without a sound and shut the door with a quiet click.

Violet-Sky rolled onto her left side and pressed her lips together in a tired half-grin. Heaviness pulled on her eyebrows and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes, it was morning. She'd had a deep, dreamless, refreshing sleep. She sucked in a deep, relaxing breath and smiled. It was so good not to dream of Loki.

She glanced at the clock's glowing green numbers. 8:30 AM. Her eyebrows scrunched together. Clint and Natasha—and no doubt Steve—were somehow conditioned to wake up at six in the morning with no alarm clock. But there was no noise coming from downstairs, the room next door, or anywhere else in the safe-house for that matter. Slowly, Violet-Sky sat up, grabbed her bow and quiver, straightened her annoying nightgown—she still hadn't replaced the satin jammies she'd left on Asgard—and stole out of her bedroom, looking side-to-side before leaving the door frame.

A quick reconnaissance proved the top floor to be completely empty—the beds reflecting their occupants' tidiness habits. Natasha's was made perfectly, Steve's was just a little messy, and Clint's looked like someone had been in a fight. Glancing out of the window of Clint's room next door to hers, she saw the Quinjet was still parked as it had been the day before in the back of the house.

Scrunching her eyebrows again, she loaded an arrow—just a precaution at that point because for all she knew that house could be abandoned. But on that same page the ground floor and the basement could be crawling with HYDRA agents and Clint and Steve and Natasha could be… she didn't like the word dead, but it came up every now and again in her line of work. Making sure her arrow was perfectly level with the arrow rest, she squeezed it with her fingers and padded silently downstairs.

The stairwell spilled her out into the front room. A very swift once-over showed it was empty too. But… she ran her hands over the couches and chairs. The armchair nearest the window was still warm. A book had been knocked off the coffee table.

From the kitchen, she heard the sound of the coffee maker turning on and making another batch. She went around the wall and saw that there was a knife on the floor, a shattered mug, a spilled cup of milk, and the coffee pot sitting completely undisturbed. "Clearly someone left here in a hurry," she remarked to herself. The question was who?

Crash! The sound came from the basement. Thinking it was a good idea, Violet-Sky loaded another arrow onto her bow. It wasn't the first time she'd done a double-shot. Jerking the door to the basement stairs open, she was fully ready to shoot something.

There was nothing there.

Seething, she slipped down the stairs, quieter than a dust mote floating on a breeze.

Her foot touched the landing, and she heard a muffled shout that sounded vaguely like "Look out!" Turning in the general direction of the noise, she saw Steve, Natasha, and Clint all bound and gagged. She dropped to the floor, not releasing the tension that was still in her bowstring, right as a rope swung to bind her too. It sailed over her head.

Whirling, she saw two men, looking annoyed, wearing strange armor. Without thinking, she released the two arrows. Her shot struck each man in the lower left abdomen. They sunk into the armor, but probably didn't do as much damage as they would have.

"Vi! Run!" Clint managed to get out through his gag.

End Note: Think I'll do one more for tonight's blitz updates.

Thanks for reading!

~Cass