A/N: Thissss... has really become a beast of a fanfic in my eyes, jeez. I don't know what I was expecting but definitely not this many words or chapters. Hopefully it's keeping everyone entertained and I didn't fail too much on my first superhero fanfic! So here's the next chapter, honestly I don't know how many are left? Not a ton, but not two. So specific, I know. This one will be shorter though!

Disclaimer: as always, I don't own Marvel, MCU or any characters in this. I am not getting paid, no copyright, yada yada.

She hated him. He could see it when he looked at her, the way her eyes would track him as he moved from inside the clear "tank" like the one they had originally had for Hulk. It was on the floor below the lab (no way was he risking that Not-So-Jolly Green Giant crashing through the ceiling of his lab), and she was less than enthused to be trapped. Some of the time she paced, others she yelled and put her arms over her head. It killed Tony, seeing her look so confused. The part that stung the most was she allowed everyone else to go in, the moment he got to close she was glaring at him and cursing in Russian.

She didn't talk to any of them, only nodded or shook her head to respond to questions. Tony had refused at first to let Peter see her, saying it would be too hard to be around her when she wasn't really her. Scared that she would hurt him. Again. Eventually, he had broken down due to Peter getting mopey. "Fine, you're the one who will have to deal with the broken nose again." Tony had warned, though that didn't stop the kid from racing down the elevator. He was advised against going by Bruce, who had noticed she seemed to be more docile when he wasn't around.

"It's only been a few days, Tony. Give her some time." Steve patted the man on the shoulder before following after Peter, wanting to be there just in case. Tony felt useless as he watched in the lab, the camera they had installed long ago finally getting some use. At first, nothing happened. He watched for ten minutes as the boy spoke about school and new comics. It was exhausting knowing she was still ignoring everyone, it made him sigh as the boy tried to get her to come around.

"I'm glad you're back, Miss Drew. Everyone was worried." Peter yammered, sitting close enough that Jess could reach forward and hurt him in an instant. She stayed still, looking at the boy every once in a while but not speaking. Tilting her head, he watched as she seemed to be studying the kid's face. "I would take a kick to the face again if I had to."

Tony stood up, worried as Jess reached forward, seeing Steve moving as well though Peter didn't seem frightened. All she did though was lightly touch his still bruised nose, frowning and pulling away. Peter frowned back, reaching back out and grabbing her hand gently. "It's okay, you know we heal fast. Don't feel bad."

Jess raised her head to look at him, stopping herself from pulling away her hand and letting him hold it. "Didn't mean to hurt you..." she mumbled so softly, Tony thought he was imagining it at first. But the wide smile on Peter's face told him it had actually happened.

"I know, that was my fault. I shouldn't have grabbed you, I wasn't thinking. I just didn't want you to hurt Mr. Stark." Jess pulled her hand back at the name quickly, like a snake had lunged at her, her lip turning up in a snarl as she shook her head.

"Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry... Don't be mad."

"You need to stay away from him, kid. He's dangerous." Jess snapped, shaking her head furiously and getting up to pace, staring at Peter like a wild animal. "He'll hurt you. You need to be careful."

Tony was trapped between feeling relief that she had finally spoke and horror at what she was saying. He kept watching as Steve came over and entered, his hands up as Jess whirled on him before looking back to Peter. "Listen to me, he's not your friend. He'll act like he is and then when you're close, he'll turn on you. That's what they always do." Jess said quickly, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder and shaking him, though it was obvious she wasn't trying to hurt him. She seemed... panicked.

"Miss Drew... Jess... that's not true. He loves you... you love him." Peter tried to say calmly, flinching as Jess growled and shook her head, turning away from him.

"NO! You have to tell me you won't trust him!" Jess hissed, grabbing Peter by the wrist and looking at him, pushing Steve away who had put a hand on her shoulder. He had been surprised to hear the woman speak for the first time in two months, and then start spewing nonsense.

"Jess... you're hurting him." Steve protested, stepping in front of the woman and prying her hand from Peter. She looked up and stepped away from Steve, glaring over his shoulder.

"No! You can't have him!" Jess snatched Peter and held him behind her, feeling certain that she was keeping him from the danger that had just walked through the doors in the form of Tony. She pushed Peter back behind her as Tony walked towards the door.

"Tony, don't." Steve warned, putting a hand out towards Tony, turning back towards Jess who had her eyes trained on Tony. Reaching into his pocket slowly when he realized she was paying attention to Tony, he put his hand around the syringe that Dr. Cho had filled in case she had another episode.

"Jess..." Tony knew she could hear him as he stepped closer, seeing Steve but concentrating on the way she moved so Peter was behind her again. "What do you think I did?"

Jess' lip was lifted in a snarl as she barked out a laugh. "I know what you did. They told me. I won't let you hurt him."

Of course, that wasn't exactly true... he just hadn't killed her. He would say there was a very big difference between the two but he tried to reason with himself that they had told her he was dangerous, told her to kill him. "I would never hurt him or you, cupcake." He looked at her hopefully as the nickname seemed to make her pause for a moment before she blinked and went back to scowling, still clinging to Peter, not paying attention to Steve.

She didn't say anything else, just kept glaring at the man who stared right back. Jess blinked as she felt something jab her arm, turning and collapsing at the same time into Steve's arms. Peter looked concerned but saw the now empty syringe. "Aw, Captain Rogers... she wasn't really hurting me. It would've been okay. Did you have to do that?" He looked guilty as he laid her down on the bed and pulled the blanket up.

"She wouldn't have let you leave, Pete. She's just... not Jess right now. She needs to rest anyways, she's been so wound up."

That made Peter sigh and nod, though he still felt bad. He had been the one to go in and bother her, he was the reason she had to be drugged. While it was apparent even to him that she was definitely not a hundred percent herself, he could still see the woman he had first met in there. The one that protected him even though she acted like she didn't care. No, she was still in there...

Tony was looking through the glass, feeling helpless and a bit hopeless as he watched the woman sleep.

"It's like watching boiling water, Tony. Watching her isn't going to make her snap out of it." Steve mentioned, coming up to stand next to the father of his Godchild.

"What if she never snaps out of it, Cap? What if she never lets me hold our child? What if she won't let me be there when she's having the baby?"

Steve had his arms crossed as he too looked in on the feisty, small brunette. "Bucky is optimistic. He was brainwashed far more frequently and for a longer amount of time than her, and he snapped out of it. He thinks it's just going to take that one thing to bring her out of it... once she is, she'll start separating the fear from the reality. As long as she doesn't have those sequence of words once we get her back, she'll be fine." Steve sounded so confident, which was normal. But the sound of desperation in Tony's was not normal, to say the least. "Just hang in there."

Thor had become a frequent visitor, one that while she didn't always talk to him, she at least seemed comfortable around. They were certain it was because she was the first one that had been there when they found her, though she could neither confirm nor deny the theory. He just was so nonthreatening towards her, almost like a big teddy bear, that she felt she could let her guard down.

"How are you today, Lady Drew?"

"I told you, Thor. You can just call me Ar- Jess." Jess. Jess. Not Arachne. She was free now, she could be herself. No more code names. Just Jess.

"Habits are hard to break, Jess. I'm sorry. Are you getting excited for the baby?"

Tony let his arms rest on his knees as he listened to their conversation, heart thumping at the mention of the baby. "I'd be a bit more excited if they'd let me out of here. Not the best place to raise a baby. Little too... bright." Jess was sitting cross legged on the bed as she spoke to Thor who sat on the edge of the bed.

He chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Ahh, yes. Well, uh... right now, it's safer to have you here. For you and the baby..."

"And him." Jess finished, sighing and leaning her back against the glass wall, hand resting on her stomach.

God, he wanted to hold her so bad... wanted to touch her stomach and talk to the baby. Wanted to apologize for a millennium if that's what it would take. Instead, he was forced to watch from afar, scotch in hand as another man comforted his woman.

"... That too. You see, murder is very much illegal and prison is also no where to raise a baby." Thor reasoned, making her smile at him.

"I... I can't help it." she whispered, Tony looking up and staring at her on the screen. "Everyday I tell myself to not react, to let it go. But Thor, I don't want to kill him... I have to kill him." His heart felt like it was being thrown from the Empire State building. "It's... it's better than I'm in here." She pulled her knees up to her chest and suddenly, she remembered being back in the kitchen in the same position talking to Thor. Jess gasped and sat forward quickly, her hand reaching out blindly and finally connecting with Thor's as he held her hand with worry.

"Jess? What is it? Is it the baby?"

"No, no. I- I remembered. Something. A memory... we were in the kitchen. Something had happened, I felt bad? Ashamed?"

Tony was standing, hand on the monitor as he held his breath. The first time she had a night terror... following the first time they almost kissed. Thor nodded enthusiastically, squeezing her hand. "Yes! That happened. You hit the Captain in the face. Do you remember the rest?"

Jess closed her eyes, squeezing them tight as she tried to remember. "I was wearing a hoodie... his hoodie. He wanted it back."

Tony smiled as he remembered fondly, holding her against the wall. "That's it, baby... you know me, come on."

Her face had confusion written all over it, remembering that he had her against the wall... but she didn't remember him hurting her, in fact, he had been being nice to her. Extremely nice. "I was being held against the wall I don't think he was hurting me. But then, Nat... Yeah, Nat came in. He put me down. I was okay."

Patting her hand and rubbing her shoulder, Thor tried to be encouraging. "Don't feel frustrated, you remembered all that. Like you said, he didn't hurt you and you were okay... does that seem like someone who wanted you dead?"

Jess shook her head reluctantly, the memory sort of fuzzy after that. "That's all I remember."

"That's okay. Maybe Nat can come in sometime and you guys can try to remember together."

The brunette smiled weakly at the man, feeling exhausted as she tried to comb through the fog and find the truth... but nothing else was coming through. She told herself not to attack the man, to ignore him if needed, but that she didn't need to kill him. She repeated it to herself over and over until she fell asleep.