Darcy sat cross-legged in the main lobby, leaning up against the wall between two sets of doors. Some medical people had carried Gabe away on a stretcher, but his blood was still all over the floor where the body had been.

A shot to the back of the head, that's what she'd overheard. Probably hadn't even seen it coming. He had a wife, Darcy knew that for sure. She also thought she'd heard him mention something about kids once, but she couldn't remember for sure.

She tried to assess what she was feeling right now. It wasn't fear or sadness or pain; the only thing she could think of to describe herself right now was numb.

Numb, she thought. That's a good word for it.

She could see her fingers squeezing tighter around the necklace and she could almost feel it, but it was almost as if the signal wasn't anchoring in her mind. Nothing going on around her really reached her.

Darcy felt her breathing and her heart rate picking up. Closing her eyes, she attempted to calm herself. Breathe slowly. I'm ok. I'm fine. She noted to herself to improve her lying skills, even in just her thoughts.

A small crowd of people was gathering outside, all attempting to see what was going on inside. There were at least five cop cars out on the street and there was now a news crew setting up, but nobody out there knew what was going on other than that a body had been taken away.

Darcy heard one of the officers tell someone trying to get in that only 'a blood relative of the witness' would be let in. The crowd thickened even more as the news crew began their live report; Darcy caught a few words here and there over the crowd's talking and the occasional police siren. 'At least one casualty.' 'Possible break-in.' Stuff like that.

Squeezing the necklace tightly, Darcy thought over the evening and everything that brought her here. What if she hadn't stopped in her exhibit? She would've been in the lobby about the same time Gabe got shot. What if she hadn't gone to the museum at all? The police wouldn't have been here for hours and those men probably would've gotten away with everything. This brought up a more important point: who were those men? That was a question Darcy didn't have the mental capacity or emotional stability to think over right now.

At long last, she saw Loki making his way through the crowd. A policeman started to stop him but Darcy motioned to one of the officers near her and told him that her husband was here. She figured since she heard them say 'only blood relatives,' why go through the trouble of convincing them to let her boyfriend in when they would let her husband in, no questions asked?

Loki approached and got on his knees in front of her.

"I figured you might want this, even if just to have with you," He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out her taser that she'd forgotten to bring.

"Thanks," Darcy forced out a small laugh and took her trusty taser.

Loki sat down cross-legged as well, which kind of looked funny on him. A very tall dude who usually dressed really nice and always looked proper was sitting on the ground cross-legged. If Darcy didn't feel like shit right now, she'd probably make fun of him some.

Loki noticed her shaking hands and took everything from her, the taser, her dead phone, and the necklace, and set them aside. He then lightly took both of her hands and just held them there.

"Would telling me what happened make you feel better?" he asked quietly.

Darcy took a moment to answer.

"I was in the exhibit," she said, her strength already returning to her. Explaining what had happened in a calm manner was actually helping. "I heard some people break in to the museum. I grabbed that necklace from a display and hid in a table. There was a silent alarm button, and I pressed it. And then the police showed up and the robbers left."

Loki looked like he was contemplating something, like a really hard equation. More than that, he looked worried. His eyes were almost teary when they looked up into hers.

"I'm sorry," He said it like the stereotypical 'I'm sorry you're in this situation' that she'd gotten quite a few times tonight from various officers, but she could see that he meant it like 'I'm sorry I wasn't here.' There was pain and regret dripping from his words.

"No, don't be sorry. Don't be sorry. Please," Darcy's heart broke, looking into those damn puppy eyes.

"I should've come with you. I was irresponsible. I should have been here. I should have protected you."

"No. You stop that. You are not responsible for me. We are not misogynistic here. I protected myself, what little protecting that needed done. Both of us wouldn't have fit in that cabinet. You would've died if you were here and that's much worse than me just being a little freaked out,"

"It's the principle of it. If anything had happened to you…" The corner of Loki's mouth twitched. His eyes were shining in the low lighting as a single tear fell down his cheek.

Darcy's strength shattered as tears now escaped her eyes as well. Loki pulled her into his lap and just held her for an undeterminable length of time.

Darcy hated crying. She hated it more than being sick, more than the dentist, more than Crocs, and almost as much as Schmidt. It had always reminded her of being weak, no matter what she was crying over. And she hadn't cried like this since Loki had told her he was leaving her so Schmidt could kill him.

Darcy wasn't even sure what she was crying over right now. It had started because of Loki, but now the floodgates were open and it was probably some combination of fear, helplessness, sadness over Gabe, and anger that was causing her to openly weep. The dominant emotion was definitely anger; the frustration, the bitterness, the fury over the situation was coursing through her veins, blocking her judgment with rage and her vision with tears.

Loki was saying something to her. Whispers in her ear. His arms wrapped tightly around her, keeping her from shaking as she sobbed. One of her hands was at the base of his neck, her fist tight around his shirt collar. She'd probably rip his shirt clean off him if she got any more upset.

She tuned in to what he was saying in the middle of a sentence, "—promise to never let something like this happen to you again. I have no way of stopping every bad thing from happening, but I can try. I will always try to stop them, even if you hate me, even if we're old, even if it kills me. I promise."

And then he was just kissing the top of her head. Darcy was no longer crying, but her breathing was ragged and kept getting caught in her throat. She was calming down now, and that was the important thing.

Looking over at the small pile of objects beside them, Darcy reached over and grabbed the necklace. She held it in front of her, both looking at it again and showing it off to Loki. It was the kind of necklace that rested on your collar and chest area and Darcy could just picture someone like Nefertiti or Cleopatra wearing it. A large green jewel was the centerpiece, surrounded by smaller blue and gold beads and gems.

"Are you a thief now as well, dear?" Loki asked, mischief dancing in his words.

"The cops know I have it and they haven't asked for it back, so I'm taking that as a 'you can hold on to it for now' type situation."

"I bet this would look great with your dress for Jane's wedding,"

Darcy actually smiled. "Maybe."

A few minutes later, a police officer came over and asked if they needed a ride anywhere. He was probably expecting their home or the hospital or something along those lines, so he looked more than a little surprised when Darcy informed him they wanted to go to Stark Tower.

"You mean to say that some assclowns broke into the museum, got around all of the security measures, killed a security guard, and didn't notice you hiding under a table?" Stark was more than a little enthralled by the conversation.

Darcy was currently lounging on the loveseat in Stark's penthouse, her feet up on Loki's leg. Steve had been over visiting Stark and Pepper, so now the five of them were talking over the night's events. As of now, Stark was the only one still interested in the conversation. Apparently Steve had known Gabe somehow, and now Steve was being quiet and looking like a lost puppy. Darcy, Loki, and Pepper had all gotten over the novelty of the break in, or at least weren't quite as pissed by it as Stark.

"It was a pretty good hiding spot, I suppose," Darcy said.

"No, I'll tell you what it was: these guys were just the muscle. The brain planned everything out for them, and the muscle just did what they were told. Someone intelligent enough to break in to all of these museums would have noticed someone else in the room."

"There's no way you can know that for sure," Steve suddenly interjected, raising a hand. Stark looked surprised that he even spoke. "In the heat of a mission, all that adrenaline going, they could have missed her if she was hiding fairly well and being quiet enough,"

"That's not the point," Darcy said, "The question we should be asking is: why are they only stealing the stuff from our find? The Met and all of the other museums are full of priceless artifacts, art, all that stuff. Why only the things from Egypt, from our find?"

"We've had this conversation before; there's no way for us to tell." Stark took a sip from his drink. He was calmer now, much more himself. "And now all we know is that these guys will get everything except that damn necklace."

"Is there no one investigating this? No global security or international collaboration?" Darcy asked.

"Well, there is, but no one's really doing anything," Steve said bitterly.

"That's politics," Pepper said.

"That's life." Loki added.

"This is bullshit," Stark muttered.

"This is Sparta," Darcy snickered to herself. Loki tried to hide a small smile, Pepper and Steve both looked confused, and Stark rolled his eyes exasperatedly, clearly not in a joking mood.

"Well, if this is just bullshit, I suppose we could try to not worry about something we have no control over," Pepper said, standing up. "And as for now, I'm going to get a drink from the kitchen. Darcy, come with me?"

"Sure thing, Pepito," Darcy jumped up and joined Pepper. Once they were safely in the kitchen, Pepper turned to her.

"Is anything bothering you?" Pepper asked, looking extremely concerned. "Anything you wouldn't want to say in front of Tony and Steve?"

Darcy was unsure of what exactly Pepper meant. Chucklehead and the Boy Scout both already knew that Darcy had been pretty freaked out earlier, so that was nothing new. Darcy was generally an open book, so hiding something from the guys wasn't really something she had thought much about. "Uh, well, I'm not trying to hide a pregnancy, if that's what you mean,"

"No, I mean are you all right? I know what you went through is fairly traumatic,"

"Oh, yeah. No. I'm fine." Darcy wasn't exactly sure if that was a lie or not. "I was upset earlier, but I'm good now. Hugged it out with Loki. Looks like he's good for something else besides all of that kinky—"

"All right," Pepper quickly cut Darcy short. "I'm glad to hear you're ok."

"Yep," Darcy popped the 'p' loudly, waiting a short moment before continuing, "So, the wedding of the year in just two weeks now," Her valiant effort to move the conversation along was disappointing at best, but Pepper didn't seem to mind.

"Yeah, it's going to be great. I talked to Natasha about an hour before you came over. She's down for the get-together,"

"Bachelorette party," Darcy corrected.

Pepper gave her a look but failed to hide a smile. "Also, a woman named Sif will be joining us. She's an old friend of Thor's and Jane wanted to invite her. From the sound of it, she's Thor's ex,"

"Oh? Well that'll be fun. Jane hanging out with one of Thor's exes. It's going to be great."

"Thor's other friends are the ones I'm worried about. Jane only mentioned them in passing, but she said that she expected they would get along well with Tony, and that can't be good."

"Good? No. Hilarious and awesome? Most likely. All of these guys together will probably end up like some Hangover-esque situation except with more British people involved."

"I feel like Tony, Thor, these friends of his, and maybe Clint are going to clash against Loki, Steve, and Bruce in what they consider a 'fun evening.'" Pepper said dryly.

"I don't know about Loki; he can loosen up when he wants to. And both Steve and Bruce could definitely use a night like whatever Stark's planning."

"I don't know about that," Pepper said as she poured herself and Darcy a drink, "Those two are usually more of the shut-in types. Not exactly party guys,"

"That's exactly why they need to get out. Besides that, could you imagine either of them dancing? That'd be something I'd pay to see. Not in a stripper kind of way, though."

"That is a lovely image, and I think we should get back now," Pepper picked up her almost empty glass and headed out of the room.

Darcy lingered behind though, sipping her drink absently.

She felt like she was underreacting to the whole evening. Two hours earlier, she had been crying into Loki's arms over it. Now, she was talking about paying to see Steve and Bruce dance. Was she underreacting? Maybe. Were her thoughts now a dramatic turn since earlier today? Definitely. Darcy felt a pang of guilt over not feeling bad for Gabe and his wife. She was sad about that, but not upset. Not anymore. She had cried and gotten her feelings out, and what she felt now was most relatable to closure. Something happened to me. I used to be a hell of a lot worse at dealing with feelings.

A loud knock on the doorframe interrupted her thoughts.

"Did I disturb you?" Loki was leaning against the frame with that dumb smile on his mouth, but it instantly slid off when he saw her expression. He strode over to her and embraced her. "What is it?" he asked lowly, running a hand through her hair.

"I…" Darcy trailed off. She had no idea how to finish that. As she stared off blankly at the wall over Loki's shoulder, a thought occurred to her: nothing was troubling her, and that was the problem. It was like the numbness she felt earlier, except she couldn't even feel that. She felt no fear over the men who could have easily killed her. She felt no sorrow for a man that had died or his family. It was as if those occurrences had happened a year ago and to someone else; they didn't matter to her, and that disturbed her.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing is wrong with you," Loki said, searching her eyes desperately. "Why would you say that?"

"I'm not sad or afraid. What happened today was awful, and I don't feel bad about it," Her expression was blank, her eyes dead. She felt a single tear escape and fall down her cheek.

"And that's ok," Loki said, lightly wiping away her tear with his thumb. "People react differently to different things. It's perfectly normal. If you don't feel those things, that's fine. Today has been a rollercoaster, and you need sleep."

"I'm so tired," Darcy admitted quietly, smiling a little at Loki's words.

"Let's go home."

Important AN:

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the amount of time it took me to put this up. Finals hit me with all the force of a great typhoon, but they're over and I'll be back up to my normal speed now that I have nothing to do. I'd also like to apologize for the quality of this chapter, or lack thereof. This one was a bitch but the next chapter should pick up a little. I'm just excited for later on when it gets back into some of the action/history themes that were characteristic of the first story. Yeah.

Secondly: nobody's ever asked me/said anything about this, but I thought I'd take a minute to explain something. The reason I portrayed Loki as not being an asshole is because I felt that his personality in the movie Thor combined with real life situations and how someone here on Earth would react to finding out they were adopted would lead to a much softer personality than what he is in Avengers. If that makes any sense. Also: he is adopted in this story, and that will be addressed farther down the line. In conclusion: someone who was adopted and had an intelligence-based skill set and had not been raised in a society that hates that person's species and values warrior-like abilities wouldn't become a psychopath. At least that's my theory when it comes to my version of Loki.

Lastly, I'd like to announce that I've started working on a new story. It's movie-verse Loki and Darcy and stuff and it should be up soonish if any of you are interested.

Thanks for your patience, and see you soon.