Chapter Twenty-Two: Stuck

Now that Eve had everyone's undivided attention, the situation rapidly returned to its previously high levels of intimidation. She cleared her mind, wiping away the foggy lust-driven dust that coated her thoughts. She kept Loki's advice at the forefront, tell the truth. She met everyone's eyes around the table until her gaze came back to Tony, who had that same befuddled look plastered on his face.

Before taking his seat once more, Fury looked around the table sternly and said, "Why don't we go ahead and do something productive now. Hmm?"

"Right!" Tony affirmed too enthusiastically. "Eve, this is Cap, Thor, Jane, Nick," Fury gave him a devilish stare, "Darcy, and of course you know Sasha," Tony ignored him and peppered in a nonchalant chuckle, "Bruce, Natasha and Clint." He had pointed to each person as he went around. Darcy was the only one to wave at her, and she even wiggled Sasha's paw in a wave. "And, well," he gestured to himself, "you know who I am."

Eve forced a small laugh in the hopes that this turn of events would distract from any suspicions anyone held about her involuntary noises. It mattered very little, anyway. If she gave them a hundred years and infinite guesses, they would never guess that her Asgardian lover, shielded from their sight by his spells, was pleasuring her with his adept fingers. Her eyes drifted to Thor and Jane as they leaned into each other and smiled. It appeared these aliens had a taste for mortals. She wondered if Thor appeared one day in her kitchen, and then promptly shook the thought from her head.

The door opened and Sam strolled in, holding various plastic bags, which he placed in front of her before leaving. He made no eye contact, simply came and went without speaking to anyone. Natasha spread the bags out so Eve could see them clearly. She stretched the fingers on her left hand out as far as they would reach, but she only skimmed the edge of the first bag. Inside sat the chunk of ceramic he'd threatened her with. "Did you..take this out of the trash?" She asked everyone at once, not sure who exactly to address.

"It was in his pants pocket. You recognize it?" Barton pulled the bag toward him only slightly, so her fingers couldn't graze it anymore.

"Yes," she answered, keeping her eyes on the shard as she experienced a quick but thorough flashback summarizing her first encounter with Loki. "It actually segways very nicely into how this all started." She told them about the first day, then went on from there when no one stopped her. She detailed his threats, his vagueness, his cruelty, and her literal knee-jerk reaction in the kitchen. She explained that she did try to retrieve her phone, but was caught. She arrived at the day Sam stopped over unannounced and something was holding back her words. A curiosity. She tried to push past it. "I knew that Sam would," she paused, "I knew that if I didn't text him all night, that, that he," another pause, "Sam has always-" she trailed off entirely. When she looked up, she looked to Natasha. "Is he listening?"

"That's not for you to know," Fury warned.

Still, Eve's eyes were fixed on Natasha. The redhead gave her the subtlest of nods and she found inspiration to go on. "Sam has always been there for me. I knew he would worry, I knew he would come check on me, because that's what he's always done. But when he showed up, Loki threatened to kill us both if I let him in or told him anything. So I had to be cold and harsh and try to get him to leave. I know that I hurt him, and that he must have been so frustrated…"

"We're all a little frustrated," Fury interjected, "move on."

She obliged and disclosed the fact that Loki had her phone and insisted on using it himself, still trying to get through to Sam. She listed detail after detail, how they had to be together all the time, how his moods were wildly unpredictable. "If I was too quiet, he would poke and prod at me until I lost my temper. Then, when I did, he would scold me, call me brash and stupid. He seemed bored with my company and keen to play with my emotions…" She moved on to discuss the moment she finally lost control. "In one instance, he was really picking on my relationship with Sam. He made me cry, which could have been partly due to exhaustion. Or maybe not. Anyway, I punched him."

Thor shot forward, as though suddenly invested in what she was saying. "You punched him? My brother? Loki?"

"Yes, I-"

"Where?"

"In the face." The room erupted into rolling laughter.

"Did he take it well?" Thor smiled broadly.

"He must have been shocked, he fell right back. I was able to-"

"You knocked him down? My brother?"

"Loki, yes, I knocked him down."

Tony was curled over, his forehead resting on the cool tabletop. "No wonder he needed an army!"

Eve fought the urge to defend herself. She wasn't sure how many of them knew she was more than able to pack a powerful punch, and she wasn't exactly able to prove herself at the time. So she smiled along with them, hoping to curry favor in some way. Fury calmed them all down and motioned for her to continue. "Well, I grabbed my phone and ran to the bathroom. I dialed Sam as I was getting the window open, but I didn't have enough time. That was when I used the word Chitauri and the meeting was set up." They asked her countless questions about his plans, anything he'd implied, and she honestly had no answers for them. She told them he disguised himself, which was a given, and told her to follow his lead.

"So, when he kissed you," Natasha prompted.

"I was shocked," Eve answered truthfully. "Beyond shocked."

"Did you enjoy it?" Barton demanded.

Tell the truth ghosted through her mind. She couldn't. "No."

"Not at all?"

"I was stuck. I couldn't have stopped it."

"No one's talking about you stopping him, okay? The question I asked was-did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy being kissed by him?"

"I answered you," Eve felt a glimmer of panic brewing in her gut. She shouldn't have lied. But how could she have told the truth? Admit to loving every second of it? Missing his lips the second they left hers? It was nonsensical, it made her look like a complete idiot.

"Say it again. Say it like you mean it this time."

"You act like I opened the sky and led those monsters to the city!" Eve shouted, officially tired of Barton's constant glares and obvious dislike of her despite knowing nothing about her. "You act like I welcomed him into my home, willingly tricked you and all your associates. Yes, okay? I enjoyed that kiss. And the ones that followed, while we were playing nice for your listening ears. Did you ever consider that I had to enjoy it? One false move, he'd say, one side step and he'd snap my neck," her eyes welled up with tears that sat until she blinked. "Maybe I was tricking myself, as a defense mechanism, to stay alive. I had no choice." Her statements left a rigid silence in the room, forcing her to think on her own words. Maybe what she felt...maybe none of it was real. Maybe she was sick in the head, drowning in tricks and lies. So he brought her the puppy, so he came back to coach her. Really, what he'd just done to her had been torture. Fun, sure. But still. Hashing out all the things he'd done to her, listing them one after the other, made it clear he was no Prince Charming. And she wasn't even done with the list. "I'll tell you everything I know, everything he ever said to me. If I knew where he was or what he was planning, I would tell you. I would scream it to anyone who would listen." She told them the rest as she knew it. At the end, her story was fairly thorough, but she had left out every moment of intimacy, every time she'd admired his body, every stolen glance and the irresistible electricity when he touched her. Most importantly, she left out their heated intercourse. She didn't know they'd left a recording device behind and heard everything, she had no idea how they'd even discovered it was Loki with her for sure. She hadn't asked those questions, being in no position to.

"That's it?" Barton piped up, knowing the true ending. Eve nodded and Natasha looked concerned. "You were naked when we found you, kiddo."

"I can vouch for that," Tony added, winking at her.

"We need to start inviting Pepper to these meetings," Steve shot him a look, "maybe that way he'll cut that out."

"Pepper is invited, she's just much too busy being important and successful in the real world," Tony responded.

Eve sat in silence, hoping this distraction was enough to move the conversation along. Barton wasn't going to allow that. "Address your nudity," he stated decisively.

"Well," she paused, planning out her lie. Her eyes moved across the other plastic bags that contained articles of clothing. "Loki knew you guys were coming, he thought it would be believable that Graham left after having sex with me, so he scattered clothes-"

"I'm not interested in having my time wasted," Barton stopped her. "It amazes me that you think we don't already know what happened."

No one spoke for a long moment. Darcy leaned forward and caught Barton's eye. "The suspense is killing me. What did happen?"

The door swung open and Sam entered once more, holding a small device that resembled a speaker. He pressed a button and set it down. The sounds that came from it were obviously sexual, and Eve took too long to recognize her own moans and sighs-most likely in denial. She opened her mouth to defend herself, claim they had no way to prove it was her. Just then, her voice emerged from the gadget, unmistakable, saying "Oh, Loki."

The only people in the room whose jaws didn't hit the ground were Natasha, Barton, Sam and Fury.

Darcy looked around, obviously thrilled. "Best. Meeting. Ever."

A/N:

Sorry for the wait, I've been so busy! I got a job in my field finally and I've been doing all that super fun pre-employment stuff, as well as going out and having fun before I actually have to start. But I know my schedule is going to be sporadic at first, so it won't interfere with my ability to keep this story up. Also, don't worry, Loki will be back before you know it :P