"Darcy."

Loki's breath hitched and he immediately spun his head to look down in another direction at the ground. He bit his teeth. She had helped him. He grit his teeth. He was reduced to this, wasn't he? Taking help from mortals. He painted an expression of scorn on his face.

"You would do well to offer some gratitude, Loki." Thor said, his voice a touch sterner than normal. "It is only because of her that your chains are off."

Loki winced, then glanced at his wrists again, still red and swollen. He didn't say a word. He felt like screaming, laughing, burning down all of Midgard, building and raising it back, hurting her, saving her, all at once. He hated her for what she did to him. What she made him feel.

He still did not speak.

Thor grimaced and turned around, starting to walk away. "I will be back, brot- Loki." He called.

Loki studied the ground, his hands clenching into tight fists, blood dripping slowly from them as his fingernails broke the skin of his palms.

"Thank you…" A quiet whisper, turning through the air, carried away by the wind.

Darcy turned her head back. Jane and her were almost to her apartment. But there was something… A feeling she couldn't shake… What seemed like words, whispers, impossible to make out, drifting with the leaves as they slowly, one by one, started to trickle down, deserting the trees. She frowned and shook her head, trying to clear it as Jane pulled up to the entrance to her apartment.

"I'll see you later, Darcy." Jane said, smiling broadly, "And seriously, I'm so sorry again!"

Darcy nodded absently, her mind occupied in something else, and got out of Jane's car, shutting the door behind her as she walked up the stairs and down the corridor to her own apartment door. She slid the key into her lock and turned it slowly, stepping inside and locking the door again.

She frowned as she switched on the lights and strode to her bathroom, changing into some comfortable shorts and a soft oversized t-shirt, taking care not to jostle her twisted ankle too much, and brushed her hair back a little, leaving it open, as it draped around her shoulders.

Darcy leaned into the mirror, studying her face. Yep there was a bruise all right. And the cut on the other side seemed to not look that much different. Pursing her lips, she walked out into her living room, ready to plop down into the couch (maybe with a bowl of ice cream) when she shrieked.

A tall figure was sitting on her couch (in her spot, if she may add) leaning over its outspread knees, its hands intertwined together. It was a figure she recognized very, very well (too well for her own good).

Her eyes were open wide with undisguised fear as she madly stumbled backwards, tripping over her own leg cast as she fell backwards.

She slammed her eyes shut, ready for the hardwood floor (yet again), but instead she felt something around her waist. An arm was wrapped around it, holding her tight and raised above the ground. A tall, broad chest pressed into her own and she felt legs touching her legs.

From above, frighteningly intense green eyes stared down.

Darcy instinctively closed her eyes again.

The arm immediately released her as she struggled to catch her balance.

"Just because you shut your eyes, mortal, doesn't mean I shall go away." A voice sneered.

Darcy felt like throwing a tantrum, stomping her feet, and crying. Why. Why. WHY?! WHY do things like this always happen to her?! She looked at him. Loki was standing less than a foot away from her, towering over her. He still looked wounded, but a far better than earlier, Darcy noted.

" How did you g-get here? Why… Why are you h-here?" Darcy said, her voice squeaking at first, and then stammering as she managed with some difficulty to form words rather than strangled noises.

"Conjured up a body double." Loki stated passively, choosing to leave her second question unanswered, which made Darcy's heart thump embarrassingly loudly in her chest.

Loki took a step towards her, his eyes dangerous. Darcy immediately took a step back. Loki tilted his head, looking slightly curious. After a second, he took another few steps forward, matched with Darcy's additional steps back.

Another step closer. Darcy took another step in reverse, but felt her feet back up against something hard. She turned her head slightly back. She was against the wall, backed up, nowhere to go. She glanced back at Loki, who looked smug as he stepped forward until he was only a few inches from her.

Darcy considered screaming for help. But she decided it wouldn't do much good anyways. And well… She was… Curious…

His eyes were extremely close, and just as intense, piercing into her own. Darcy held his gaze, biting into her lower lip.

Suddenly, he raised up a hand and Darcy slammed her eyes shut, turning her head away. She felt him even closer, against her. His foot was in between her feet, nudging her cast. Slowly, she felt long, thin fingers trail from her temple to along her cheekbone and down her jawbone, first on one side, then on the other.

He was saying something. It didn't seem to be in English. But Darcy couldn't concentrate on that. She could barely concentrate on anything right now.

Darcy clenched her teeth. His fingers seemed to blazing a trail of fire. Yet she was shivering. She was burning up. Yet she was freezing. She was sure of it. There was no other way to describe that feeling. And then the fingers were abruptly drawn away, and he wasn't close to her anymore.

Darcy opened her eyes, looking around. He was gone. Her apartment was seemingly empty. Suddenly, Darcy shivered as an unknown cold shattered through the room. She crossed her arms, trying to stay warm through the sudden chill.

She heard hurriedly whispered words. "Look in the mirror…" Darcy furrowed her brows, and then walked to her bathroom, barely noticing that she wasn't limping pathetically anymore.

She looked in her mirror, expecting to see nothing, and gasped. Across it, in an elegantly formed script, was sprawled the words, "Thank you", fading away quickly, until they disappeared completely and she couldn't be sure if she'd actually seen them or no.

She was about to turn away when she stopped. Her face was flushed, obviously, and sadly, she noted. But there was something more. Her bruise… And her cut… They were gone. Darcy ran her hands over his cheeks, where his fingers had been trailing just a few moments earlier. But her skin was perfectly smooth, without a break. As if there hadn't been any wound there in the first place. She looked down, experimentally moving her foot. No pain.

He had healed her.

Darcy yawned, her head drooping onto Jane's shoulder. She had actually volunteered to come to S.H.I.E.L.D. with her today. Just to make Jane happy, she told herself. It wasn't to see anyone. Not even a certain someone.

But either way, Jane and her and had waiting outside a meeting room for what seemed like an eternity. Darcy groaned, burying her head deeper into Jane's shoulder as Jane sighed. Darcy closed her eyes, promising herself it was just for a second, but before she knew it, she was drifting off.

Thor opened the door as the Avengers and Loki started to step outside. Loki paused at the doorway. She was here. He knew it. Somehow. He tilted his head, looking around. There.

He tried to hide a smile as he saw her clearly fast asleep, eyes closed and mouth half-open, head leaning on Jane. She looked adorable. Wait. No. She was a mortal. She was beneath him. It didn't matter. The positive emotion melted off Loki's face, replaced with a stern scowl as he stalked out of the meeting room, avoiding looking at her.

"Thor!" Jane said, her voice doused with far too much happiness, Loki observed. That woman. Couldn't she see that Darcy was asleep? What if her mindless squeaking awoke her?

Loki grit his teeth. Again. Thinking about her. He did not care about her at all, whether she lived or died, she was a mortal, he repeated inside his head over and over.

"Ugh." Jane struggled to gently move Darcy off of her so that she could get to go meet Thor without waking her up.

"Here, let me help." A voice suggested. Loki whipped his head towards the source. It was… Captain America…

Loki furrowed his brows. He watched intensely, studying him, as the Captain bounded across the floor, his hands slipping under Darcy's body, as he lifted her up, bridal style, in her arms. Loki's hands clenched into fists.

Darcy shifted in her sleep and Loki held his breath, but she relaxed, turning slightly in the Captain's arms, one of her hands absently clutching his shirt in her sleep, her head nestled between the crook of his arm and his chest.

"Loki?" A voice asked. "Are you feeling well? You look ill." Thor said.

"I am fine." Loki snapped curtly.

"Loki, your hands-" Thor began again.

Loki looked down. They were still in fists, but blood was trickling from them, vibrantly red against the pale of his skin. Loki studied it for an instant, then relaxed his hands, looking down at the carpet for a few seconds, his lips a thin line, then abruptly stormed out of the room.

Loki sat down, raking a hand through his hair absent-mindedly. What had happened back there? What had he done. He had… Hurt himself in his fury… His fury at whom? Her? No. Him. The Captain, he spoke the name scornfully even inside his head. But why? He had no reason to be angry at him.

All the Captain had done was simply lift her up, carry her in his arms as if she was his. Loki felt a fire burn inside him again. An urge to strangle him, throw him against a wall, out a window, anything! Loki wanted to scream. Why did that matter to him?! He was… Jealous? NO! He was not jealous! Because he did not care for her! He did not! HE DID NOT!

"I DO NOT, I DO NOT!" He yelled, standing up straight.

He looked over, just then noticing a woman, a cleaning woman, a servant, standing a few steps from him. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open, her jaw hanging slack as she stared openly. Her broom dropped to the floor. He glared at her, daring her to say something. She scrambled backwards, then turned around, running from him, out of sight.

Loki sat back down. He lifted two fingers to pinch the bridge of his nose.

He did not! Did he? He was a god! She was a mortal! She was beneath him! She was better for nothing than to servehim, to kneel before him! So he did not. He could not.

Loki sighed.

Thor stared at the back of his hastily retreating brother as he stormed away. He hoped he was okay. Loki had never… Behaved in such a manner…

Thor thought hard. No wait. Loki had. Thor had seen him act such one time before. When they were both children, and it was Loki's birthday. Frigga had wished him a happy birthday; showered him with presents and attention and love, but when Thor had been put out at not getting any attention himself, Frigga had lifted him onto his lap and played with him, calling him, "her darling eldest". Loki had looked much the same as he had now. He had clenched his fists and his teeth, his lips drawn thin and his eyes dangerous, and he almost expected sparks to fly off of him.

But what had made him feel that way again? Thor furrowed his brows. He did not know. He simply did not. And he hated the feeling.

Loki walked back into the room, feeling slightly better than he had before. The feeling quickly disappeared when he saw Darcy still placed firmly in the Captain's arms. He attempted to ignore her completely, and sat down on a nearby chair, flipping through a file.

Darcy shifted in her sleep. Ugh. What was that? She felt something against her. Wait. Wasn't she at S.H.I.E.L.D.? Crap. Her eyes flew open immediately to find a pair of blue eyes gazing down into her own. Steve grinned.

"It's about time, sleepyhead." He murmured. Darcy could feel a pair of eyes burning into them and looked over to find Thor talking to Jane while Loki was staring, no, glaring, at them. Darcy felt herself blush. She remembered the last time she'd seen him in her apartment. And blushed harder.

She pushed against Steve, moving. "Let me down, Apple Pie!" She said.

Loki frowned. Apple Pie?

"Apple Pie?" Steve asked, laughing lightly, his arms still holding her tightly.

"Yeah, because it's all like, American and stuff-, okay anyway, let me down, dude! Why are you carrying me in the first place?" Darcy moved against him again, afraid to just jump out of his arms for fear of falling. She fell too much anyway…

"You fell asleep on Jane and she needed help moving you so, yeah."

"So why didn't you just put me down afterwards?" Darcy asked.

From across the room, Loki raised his eyebrows. EXACTLY!

"Uh…" Steve muttered, at a loss for words. His face turned red. Gently, he lowered his arms, setting Darcy down on the ground. He ran a hand through his hair. "Uh…"

"Okay you know what, Apple Pie? Forget it." Darcy saved him the torture of answering. Steve nodded sheepishly.

"I'm uh… Going to go… Eat some… Er… Pie…" He hurried fled the room, more running than walking. Darcy stared after him, utterly confused. She shrugged.

"Don't know what's gotten into him..." She muttered.

Loki looked up slightly. He had a feeling he did.

Darcy turned back to the room. Thor and Jane were engrossed and wrapped up in their own little world. Loki was studying a file. Loki.

Darcy froze, her eyes catching on him. She walked past him to Jane, and tapped on her shoulder.

"You wanna leave now, dude?" She asked. Jane nodded and said a few words to Thor before walking towards the door with her, "Bye, Loki." Jane called.

"Good bye." Loki said, looking straight at Darcy.

Darcy frowned, and then slipped her arm through Jane's, leading her out. She threw a last look over her shoulder.

"Good bye, Darcy…" Loki whispered again.

"Loki? Did you say something?" Thor asked.

"No. Nothing at all…"

Thor nodded. "I must go attend to Director Fury, I shall be back, Broth- Loki."

After Thor's departure, Loki looked down again.

Inside the file, a there was a picture. It was of a woman. A woman with soft, long-lashed eyes, and thick dark brown hair. Her head was thrown back in a peal of laughter, waves of joy seeming to roll off of her, even in a picture, warming all around it.

Darcy.