Chapter Sixty-Seven: Could It Be

Eve had gone to bed the night before completely spent. Loki, though confident he could climb in next to her with no objections, opted to obey her previous wishes and sleep in his designated room. They woke up separately, around the same time, wishing they had slept side by side so they could have curled up into each other's bodies. Hers, more sore than his, would have delighted in the closeness. Too tired still even to call for him, she'd promptly fallen back asleep.

When she'd slept over sixteen hours and showed no promising signs of waking, Loki prepared a high-protein meal and brought it into her room. She stirred hesitantly, locked to her pillow in some hazy dream.

"You can rest more," he promised, "but you need to eat."

"Mm," she half-agreed, feeling like she may never move again. When she tried to sit up, her body screamed in an all-around ache.

He went to help her, smiling.

"Are you-" She opened her eyes fully, swiping the sleep from them. "Are you enjoying this?"

"Maybe."

She took a piece of bacon off the packed plate he'd brought for her. "Yeah, okay, I guess you've earned it."

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't be glad that you're in pain. You know that, right?"

"Maybe. Can never be sure with you."

"That's what keeps things exciting."

"Hm. Get me some water?"

He went to the kitchen.

Her thoughts were swirling, doing laps around a calm, peaceful duck pond. Was this-could it be-happiness? Contentment? Satisfaction? She started to doze back off.

Loki came back and set the glass down. The sound of it woke her again. "Try to get something in your system, then you can sleep straight through to tomorrow."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll keep busy."

She took another strip of bacon and then lifted the plate into her lap. Hunger was soon all she could feel, and she scarfed down each thing while he sat at the foot of the bed with that too-pleased grin on his cheeks.

When her stomach ceased cramping, she found the awareness to brush a path of crumbs off the sheets. "That wasn't all of it, was it?"

"All of the food? I could make more."

"No, ah-" She moved the plate back to the bedside table. "When we-yesterday-"

"You were the one who asked for it, and now you're having trouble talking about it?"

"I told you to give me everything. Not to hold back. That wasn't all of it, was it? You still held back."

He considered lying to her. There was no conceivable way he could ever sleep with her using his full strength. Her form would not allow it. He thought about bending the truth so as to not put strain between them. She was asking so earnestly, though, like she already knew the answer. "I had to," he said.

Contrary to the reaction he'd expected, she laughed. "Can you imagine? If you'd actually used all your strength? I'd be dead, wouldn't I?"

"Quite literally."

"With how I feel now? Wow, I really can't imagine."

"You wouldn't feel a thing. You'd be dead."

"Then thank you. For not fucking me to death."

He laughed and it was genuine, sprouting wrinkles between his eyebrows. "You're welcome."

Elsewhere

Despite leaving late the night before, Darla showed up to work an hour early the next day. She was looking forward to another raucous, productive day with Tony and Darcy. When she arrived at Tony's room around seven o'clock, the door was open but no one was there. She stood in the quiet living space for a few moments, considering. Then, she went to the lab. Bruce wasn't in.

She'd been under the impression that SHIELD crew members, especially those highest on the food chain, worked tirelessly around the clock. Yet, even Marista and her team were absent from the lab across the way. It seemed work started promptly at eight and not a moment earlier, no matter who you were. Was it like this when Loki had just escaped as well? She knew there were overnight workers but, had she no knowledge of the inner workings of the building, she would have thought no one was there at all.

She went back up to Tony's room to wait for him. She took up the same space on the couch she had the day before and fought the urge to nibble her fingernails. Tony didn't subscribe to normal work hours regardless of how the rest of the building operated. It seemed that the Avengers had no one supervising them but Fury, and they loved nothing more than to defy and upset him. Now that news of Loki's capture had spread, it made sense for the higher-ups to relax a bit. For Darla, this meant she could be waiting a while for him to show up.

Soon enough, she found herself stuck in an anxious loop. Should she be sitting in Tony's living room without his go-ahead? Did she have some form of unspoken permission since she was helping him plan the party? Why had she showed up early when no one asked her to and likely no one else would? She took to fidgeting with the zipper on the front of her uniform, zipping and unzipping it a few inches.

The sound of high heels began coming up the hallway, and the surprise struck her nerves like an arrow. Her hand twitched, and she unwittingly sent her zipper down almost to her bellybutton. When she tried to right it, it was stuck. The footsteps came closer, menacing and rhythmic and confident. She assumed it was Darcy-though she must have known Darcy well enough after just one day to know she'd never once been early for anything. In a moment of panic, she feebly hoped she'd be able to bond with her new friend over this wardrobe malfunction. Then, she prayed that whoever it was was headed somewhere else.

No such luck.

With her fingertips white with strain, trying to force the zipper to cover her bra again, Darla soon met eyes with the red-headed, fair-skinned professional working woman who was Pepper Potts.

"Hi, um-" Darla's face contorted and her cheeks flushed.

Pepper said nothing, utterly at a loss.

"I'm just, it's-"

Pepper held her purse in close to her with her elbow, posture stiffening. "Where's Tony?" She peered toward the bedroom. "Tony?" Her eyes shot back to Darla.

"He's not here." Still no luck with the zipper.

"So, you're waiting for him, then?"

"Yes, but-"

Pepper laughed. "You're an agent?"

"Yes, but-"

"You thought that unzipping your top down to your navel would, what? Get his attention? Or has this been going on for a while?"

Darla's face went hot. "Oh, Jesus. No, um, no. This was an accident. I was fidgeting with it, and-"

"Uh-huh. Woman to woman. How long?"

Darla could have thrown up on the rug right then and there. This was the girlfriend. The career-driven woman who drove Tony mad.

"It's not like that," Darla insisted, realizing that no matter what she said it made her sound guilty. "He would never-and I would never-"

"This is exactly why I didn't tell him I was coming back."

"This is a misunderstanding," Darla insisted. "This is broken, see?" She tried to yank it up, and this time it did budge a ways, catching on her skin. She yelped.

Pepper dropped her bag and sighed, moving over to test for herself. She didn't ask permission, just bent over Darla and got her hands on the zipper. "Yeah, okay, that's pretty jammed." She looked into Darla's eyes, squinting, trying to probe the dishonesty from her very pupils. She found none, but it didn't matter. "So you thought Tony could help you fix it since he's got this great big mechanical mind? That's quite the opening line."

"Oh my god. No." Darla found herself laughing, nerves tingling her spine, tickling her. "Tony is a superhero scientist. Not to mention he's taken. By you, I'm assuming."

"Uh huh."

"But, anyway, he's so far out of my league that nothing of that sort has even crossed my mind. Oh my god, no, I'm just assigned to help him plan the party this weekend."

"Lucky you."

Darla groaned.

The large TV centered on the wall to her left blinked on. "Mr. Stark is on the line," JARVIS said calmly, and suddenly Tony's sleepy face appeared on the screen.

"Do either of you have the faintest idea what time it is?" Tony cocked his head to the side, focussing in on Darla's wardrobe malfunction. "Wait, what on earth is going on in there?"

Pepper removed her coat and threw it to Darla. "You tell me," she said.

Darla put the jacket on, but it was the sort with one low button on the front so it hardly solved the problem of her bra hanging out. Tony was still distracted, so Pepper glared her way. "You see that that didn't fix anything, right? Put it on backwards."

Head hung, Darla flipped the coat around and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Sorry, did we disturb you?" Pepper blared at the TV, hands on her hips.

"Fucking kind of," Tony said.

"Where are you? Whose bed are you in?"

Tony repositioned his phone so they could see Bruce laying next to him.

"I guess that's actually the best case scenario. Now explain to me why you've got a half-naked SHIELD agent waiting in your room for you!"

Bruce stirred at this. "What."

"Nothing, dear," Tony said. "Go back to sleep."

"Do you think that's helping?" Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose.

Tony swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up. His hair mussed, his eyes heavy, he tried to shake himself awake. "I'm not ashamed of this, babe. He and I are close and if I preferred the company of men in a sexual nature, I'd be lucky to have him and he, me." He got up and left Bruce's room. "See, JARVIS notified me when Darla arrived half an hour ago. I snoozed that notification harder than a four-am alarm. But when he told me you had arrived, sweetness, didn't I hop on the video chat right away to greet you? Had you told me, I'd have been waiting in bed for you no questions asked."

"Don't talk to me like this in front of your side piece. It's not cute or endearing."

Tony was walking through the halls in his pajama pants with no shirt or shoes on. He looked off to the side, thinking. "She was assigned to help me with the party thing you didn't want to help me with. In no way does that mean we have anything beyond a working relationship. And I'm sure she told you that. We were working closely with Darcy yesterday, and when Darcy shows up an hour late she can explain it all to you as well."

"Who's Darcy, now? No. I want hard evidence, Tony."

"Hard evidence that I haven't-"

"Tony."

"Can you just-hold on." The video chat cut off, and he walked into the room. "What sort of evidence do you imagine I have?"

"Doesn't JARVIS record everything?"

"That's not exactly ethical."

Pepper frowned.

"But, yes, audio."

"Fine. Audio." Pepper looked to Darla. "Unless you have some kind of objection."

She didn't. She shook her head.

"Actually-" Tony said.

"What?" Pepper and Darla both said at once.

Before he could answer, Darcy strolled into the room wearing oversized sunglasses.

"Great. Here," Tony said. "This is Darcy. She was with us yesterday."

"I thought you said she'd be late," Pepper said.

"Psych, bitches, I never went to sleep!" Darcy looked over Tony. "You coulda told me we were having a pajama day." She looked at Darla. "Or a backwards jacket day. Ooh, we should have a backwards pajama day. Let's get donuts. A hundred million super sweet-oh, shit, who's this?"

"This is Pepper," Tony said.

"Hey! That's funny because yesterday I thought she was Pepper!" Darcy waved her coffee cup in Darla's direction.

Pepper shook her head at Tony and laughed, then swiftly picked up her purse. "All that nonsense about wanting me to trust you? Maybe you can see my side of things now, huh?"

"Nope. No, listen. This is just an unfortunately incriminating series of events, here, babe. It makes me look bad but I haven't done anything. I will get that audio for you. I will."

"Fine. In the meantime, I'm going to see about getting my own room. On another floor. Maybe in another building. You three have fun."

"Nice meeting you," Darcy said as she left.

Tony's now fully-awake gaze turned to Darla, who wouldn't meet his stare. "Minnie."

She looked up but didn't move her head.

"Don't give me those big cartoon eyes. Why'd you show up so early? What's with your zipper?"

"I was just showing initiative," Darla said.

Tony's brow furrowed.

"By being early! Not with the zipper! That was an unfortunate accident."

"Can you sort it out? Please? I don't want to have this discussion while you're wearing my girlfriend's jacket. Have Darcy help you. I'm going to get dressed." He went into his room.

Darcy pushed her sunglasses atop her head. "What's going on?"

"I was messing with my zipper and it got stuck, then his girlfriend-Pepper-got here for a surprise visit and thought I was trying to seduce him."

"Well-were you?"

"No."

"No judgement here, girl."

"No, really, I'm just a moron."

"Oh, please. Stand up, let's see what we're dealing with here." Darla took the coat off and stood. Darcy fussed with the zipper to no avail. "Hmm. Yeah, you're gonna have to take this off. Easier, I think."

"What, really?"

"Are you not wearing underwear? Neither am I! Twinsies!"

"I am. I am wearing underwear."

"Oh, cool. Take this off, I'll fix it quick and you can throw it right back on!"

"What if Tony-"

"If Tony comes back out here, I'll scream. Don't worry."

Darla was powerless against Darcy's aggressive persuasion, so she shimmied out of her top layer after taking off her shoes. She looked around warily for a blanket or something to cover up with, not daring to put Pepper's jacket back on.

The TV blinked as Darcy was swearing at the zipper. "Dr. Banner is on the line," JARVIS said.

"Wait," Darla said, panicked.

"Wait!" Darcy echoed, more urgently. "Deny call! Reroute call to-uh, he's in his bedroom!"

Bruce's face appeared on the video chat for less than five seconds, during which time Darcy and Darla stood stiller than department store mannequins. Then, the video chat indeed rerouted itself to Tony's room.

Darcy glanced at Darla, who looked like her head might explode. "Okay," Darcy said. "Okay, maybe he didn't see you. But, uh, if he did-you got a rockin body, I wouldn't worry about it."

They heard Tony exclaim, "What?!" from his room.

He threw open the door, hand covering his eyes. "Can you two do this somewhere else? The bathroom, maybe? The moon? How on earth is undressing in the very first space people see when they come in somehow the fucking theme for today?"

Darcy grimaced. "Okay, so, he definitely saw you."

Darla sprinted to the bathroom and shut herself in.

"I'll, uh," Darcy said from the other side of the door, "I'll let you know when I fix it."

Darla wanted to cry, but she didn't. She paced along the border of the plush bath mat, retracing her steps, reliving each embarrassing thing that had happened so far. She caught sight of herself in the mirror and got distracted. The words rockin bod echoed in the back of her mind and, despite herself, she laughed.

The door opened a few inches and a hand reached in, holding her repaired uniform. Only, it wasn't Darcy's arm.

"Put this on," Tony said. "Let me know when you're decent."

Darla put her clothes on, if a bit slowly. Where had Darcy gone? The zipper worked fine now, so she stalled by washing her hands. "Okay," she said, once her fingers were nice and dry.

Tony joined her in the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind him. "We have to make this fast."

"Uh, uh-" Darla backed into the far wall.

"Minnie. I'm not going to murder you, okay? We can talk in here. The audio doesn't record because, well, that's sort of unsavory. The thing is-" He took a lengthy pause here, negating his own wish to keep things quick. "I can show her that audio from yesterday. I'm going to have to. That means she'll hear the personal conversation you and I had. You know, where I told you exactly how I feel. The stuff I should have told her to begin with."

"That's good, then, in a way."

"In no way is it good. No matter what her reaction would have been if I told her myself, this looks like I can tell any old agent off the street about our problems but not her. Worse, it's gonna look like I was trying to connect with you or you with me or-"

"I was," Darla said, moving away from the wall. "I was trying to connect with you."

"Are you trying to make this complicated for me?"

"What? No. Listen to me. I can try to connect with you without wanting to seduce you or catch you vulnerable or, I dunno, sniff out your weaknesses. I could tell you were hurting so maybe I pried-but it wasn't for any reason apart from wanting to help. If that isn't clear, if it's not obvious to her when she listens to it, I'd be happy to explain. I can tell how much she means to you. I am...I'm distraught that all this is basically my fault."

"I don't want you to blame yourself," he said. "But I do have to dismiss you."

"Dismiss me?"

"Fire you. Not from the company, just from this project. You understand, don't you?"

On some level, she did. It didn't change how this felt. "I didn't do anything wrong."

He sighed. "I know that, it's just-"

"You put a lot of energy into chastising me for being quiet, for not standing up for myself. Yet now, you don't want to stand up for me, do you?"

He looked away from her. "This is the only option I have."

She invaded his space to get to the door. "You mean it's the easiest option you have."

He grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "Yeah. Yeah, okay, maybe. But I'm not going to risk my relationship over-over-" He looked her up and down.

"A peon?" She shoved his hand away. "I get it. I'm expendable. I get it."

"You didn't even want to be doing this!"

"Doesn't matter. Can I go?"

He opened the door to let her out.

Darcy was nowhere to be seen, presumably dismissed as well, and Tony didn't follow her out. She left the quiet room and felt utterly purposeless. She got to the main elevators and sat down on a bench across from them. She stayed there, thinking, for a while.

People got on and off the elevators, paying her no mind, until at last the doors revealed someone she recognized. She thought if she kept her head down and remained still, he wouldn't notice her. Of course that's not how things went-today was not her day at all.

Bruce seemed keen to pretend he hadn't seen her as well, but they made a moment's worth of eye contact and that was enough to solidify their interaction. He stepped off the lift and nervously checked if there was anyone else around.

"Look, ah," he began, "Tony isn't so great at explaining things. Especially when I ask directly, especially when he's upset or distracted. Whatever happened between you two-"

"What do you think happened?" Darla rested her back against the window and crossed her arms.

"I don't want to get in the middle of anything."

"Anything like what?"

Bruce took his glasses off to wipe them. "Do you think this is funny?"

She stood, then, frustrated by his standoffishness. "I certainly don't. I want to know what you're assuming based on what you saw and based on what he said and based on what you know about me. You're a smart guy. Take a guess."

"You're upset," he noted, replacing his glasses. "I was gonna go talk to him. He hung up on me before."

Darla took her seat again, bringing her legs up onto it with her and twisting them into a pretzel. "Fine."

"I'm sorry. If he sidelined you or hurt you or-"

"You think I slept with him."

"Darla. I don't wanna talk about this. It's not appropriate."

"It's plenty appropriate because that's not what happened! Not even close! Yet I'm being punished like I was throwing myself at him, like, like-ugh!" She stood again and took to pacing. "I never should have tried anything new. I never should have showed up early. Who the fuck designs a uniform with a zipper in the front?!"

"Okay, okay," he said, putting one arm around her shoulders to lead her to the elevators. He pushed the down button. "Take it easy, spitfire."

"Why would you think I'd slept with him? He was with you all night!"

"Can you keep your voice down?"

"There's nobody here!"

He got in front of her to make eye contact. He put one hand on each shoulder. "Darla. We're in the SHIELD building. You worked surveillance. Everybody can hear everything."

She spun out of his reach and frantically pressed the down button over and over.

"Oh, Jesus," Bruce said. "Yeah, let's go to the lab. I think I have some xanax in my office."

"Ha-ha, very funny."

"I'm not even sort of kidding."

The elevator doors opened and they got on. Soon enough, they were walking down the hallway to get to the large lab. He led her to a small side room and raised his eyebrows to indicate that she was free to speak.

"I'm an idiot," she said. "I did everything wrong."

"So you did sleep with him?"

She sunk into a nearby chair and he mirrored her, sitting across the way. "He fired me."

"Sometimes when people are telling stories, they do this wacky thing where they start at the beginning."

"Did you see me in my underwear? Is that why you think we had sex?"

He blushed. "Most of the time when there's a half-naked woman in Tony's room-"

"Most of the time, sure. How do you explain Darcy, then?"

"So, Darcy slept with him? I thought her and Steve were a thing."

"No! Darcy was there with me. You must have seen her on the video chat."

He'd been so taken aback by the sight of Darla, he hadn't noticed anyone else was in the room. "Oh," he said. "Oh, yeah."

"My zipper got stuck, and then Pepper came in and saw me and thought I was sitting on Tony's couch patiently waiting to be fucked."

Bruce swallowed when she cursed. This was a new energy for her. He didn't necessarily hate it. "I mean," he laughed, "how far down was your zipper?"

For a split second, she imagined herself being the sort of girl who could say Do you want me to show you? and not sound like a complete dolt. Instead, she pointed to how far down it had gone. "My hand slipped. I was messing with it, like a fidgety loser, and it got stuck. Anyway, Darcy was helping me fix it. Pepper hates me, so I got fired. That's about all of it."

Bruce hung his head, deep in thought.

"You agree with him."

"Pepper is the best thing in his life."

"Are you sure it's not the money? The fame? The robot army?"

"Darla, I'm sure."

"I'm a person," she said, suddenly, as though if she didn't say it her lungs would collapse. "Does anyone realize that? Or is it like-" she was calming down now, but in a bad way, going sad and caving in on herself. "Is it like I'm not needed or welcome or essential? Director Fury brought me on and took a liking to me and wants me to find my stride-that doesn't mean anybody else wants that for me. Oh, god, I've been a burden on you all this whole time."

"Hey, hey, wait," Bruce said, scooting his chair closer to hers. "I've loved having you help me in the lab. You have a great eye for detail, and for such a nervous girl you've got some steady hands."

She held her hands up to look at them.

"See?" he said, and he took one hand into his own. "Not a tremble in sight."

Their hands rested together on his knee, and though he'd meant it to be purely for comfort, soon it toyed with being too intimate, so he moved to pull his hand back. She squeezed into his palm with hers, and he looked down, taking in the sight of her dainty nails lightly pressing into his skin. When he looked up, she was closer to him. She took her hand back.

She looked down at her knees, and then back up at him. "I want to be the sort of girl who doesn't get pushed around like this. I want to be the sort of woman who knows what she wants and goes after it."

"You can do that," he said. "I know you can."

Darla wasn't so angry anymore. Her frustration was settling. If Tony didn't respect her, if he had to prioritize different things, she had to roll with the punches. She'd loved being in the lab with Bruce, too, and would be happy to go back to it.

"Thank you," she said. She wanted to hug him. Hold him. In her most daring fantasies, she'd kiss him square on the lips. She'd unzip her uniform and say nothing. She'd persuade and seduce and take what she wanted. Though he looked at her like he might want those things too, the insecure girl that was in charge of all Darla's decisions saw something else. A man who pitied her or viewed her as a platonic drone-something she was primed to settle for.

"What is it?" he asked, seeing this train of contradictory thoughts make its way around her head, sailing full-steam past her eyes.

"Did the idea of me sleeping with Tony upset you?"

"Hmm."

"You seemed upset."

"No. Not with you. I was just hoping he hadn't fallen back into old habits. Of course I would be upset if he involved you."

"Why?"

He smiled. "Because I like you. You deserve better than that."

She froze. Her face didn't take on any out of the ordinary expressions. She hid it well, but that was mostly luck. Because I like you. The words played over and over.

Her mind came to a screeching halt as a loud alarm blared, setting off little siren lights in the room. It was the same alarm Darla had tripped her first time coming to the lab. She and Bruce rushed out to see who it was, and Bruce waved his ID badge over the sensor to rescue Darcy from Marista.

Instead of any apologies, Darcy glared at Bruce. "My badge doesn't unlock a single door in this fucking building!"

"There might be a reason for that," Marista said, nose turned up.

"Yeah," Darcy sneered. "So bitches like you have plenty of places to hide when I come looking for you!"

"Alright," Bruce said, leading Darcy inside and smiling as politely as he could manage at Marista. He gave the lab techs across the way an apology wave as well.

Darcy barreled into the lab, unconcerned with whether or not anyone was following her. "I've been looking for you all morning."

Bruce shut the door and messed with his shirt cuffs. "What? Why?"

"I think she means me," Darla said.

"Did Tony fire you?"

"Yeah. You too?"

"Yeah! The nerve of that guy!"

"Why didn't you just wait for me outside his room?"

Darcy blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I wasn't about to storm off and then patiently wait in the hallway. He would have been lost yesterday without us, and then his main squeeze gets back and it's like we're in his way."

"It's not like we can do anything about it," Darla said, half frowning.

"Like hell we can't!"

Bruce took an anxious step away from the two of them. "Let's not get carried away, okay? He's just trying to protect his re-"

Darcy rounded on him with a glare so fierce he could have been silenced for the rest of the day. "Darla agrees with me! Don't you?"

"Well-uh-"

"Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go steal some expensive dresses and makeup and hairspray-whatever-the works. Then we're gonna show up to that party tomorrow looking fly as hell."

Darla sniffled and bit her bottom lip. "I know this isn't a fun answer, but I don't want to antagonize anybody."

Darcy charged to be in front of her and put both hands on her shoulders. "You are hot. That woman was threatened by you. Own it. Own it. Own it. Own it. Own-"

"Okay! Stop."

"Nobody will know you're doing it to be antagonistic. They'll just think 'oh shit who the fuck is that' and try to get your number. It'll annoy Pepper and Tony too, I think, and that's a bonus."

Darla did her best not to look at Bruce as she said, "Okay, let's do it."

"Really?" Bruce replied straight away, eyes narrowed.

"I don't have a dress for tomorrow anyway," she said. She hadn't even thought of it. "I won't steal anything, though, I have money."

Darcy was thrilled. "Yes! You have a car, right? Let's go now!" She headed back toward the door.

"You don't really want to do this, do you?" Bruce said before Darla could follow her, voice hushed.

"I'd like to look nice," Darla said.

"But it is going to cause problems."

"It's going to cause problems if I'm there, whether I look good or not. Are you saying I shouldn't go?"

"No, I-well, I mean," he ran his hand through the hair on the back of his head, "maybe you should sit this one out."

"You don't want me there?"

He sighed. "That's not what I meant."

"You think his happiness is more important than mine."

"Darla, stop. You're misunderstanding me."

Darcy had the glass door open and was halfway out. "Are you coming?"

Without saying another word, Darla went with her.

A/N:

Well hello there! First off, I know the Loki bit is short but there really wasn't much to do with them, you know? Plus I love spending time with Darla. Her romantic journey is more fun to me now, I hope you guys enjoy it too. I had no idea her and Darcy were going to get along so well and be interacting this much. If I had, I wouldn't have given them such similar names :P

Secondly, I'm back! In the time away I took I finished a second draft of the novel I'm looking into getting published. It's modern fantasy. It's out for peer edits right now, so I need something to pass the time while I wait for feedback. If any of you are interested in checking it out, I'm more than happy to share. Message me or leave a review.

I'm hoping to be able to add more to this story now that I have all this downtime. For so long I was working tirelessly on my book and now that I don't have it to tinker with anymore, I'm glad I have this project to come back to. Of course, I love all of you guys and want to thank you so much for your patience. Keep my motivation up! Reviews really do the trick ;)