And, we're back. Kinda. As I've said before, I have a thesis to focus on. That being said, I will keep updating but because I can't dedicate all my time to this story, I have a lot of random ideas floating around in my head, and the writing style I need to utilize for my thesis work is so radically different from the writing style I use when doing stories, it'll take a while.

Still, I'm gonna try to update at least one of the stories/series' I have going at least once a week. Don't know which ones those will be, but it'll be something. Also, the fight between Loki and Thor which resulted in Fury clad in a tutu and the girl's prank night are still in the works. Both are started, but I need to determine what I'm going to do with both of them more than what I know. Those will be done and will come out. Promise. Its just a matter of when.

That being said, on with the chapter.

Enjoy,

Illusinia

The echo of a ringing phone sent Danya rolling off the cot she'd fallen asleep on with all the grace of a floundering fish. Brown hair was spit rather ungracefully from her mouth with a growl. "Shit!"

Still, the bad language didn't deter the phone from emitting its cheerful rendition of 'This is Halloween' nor did it stop the scowl from growing across Danya's face as she scooped up the annoying device while checking on her experiment. "Damnit Coulson, what the fuck did I tell you about calling at ungodly times? I swear, you're balls are mine if I EVER see you again."

An uncomfortable cough from the other end alerted Danya to the fact that she was not, in fact, talking to Coulson. Checking the ID, she cursed a little when she noticed it was Steve's number and not her bosses. "Shit, sorry Steve. Normally I don't get calls from anyone this late at night except Coulson who I swear is a fucking robot."

"Uh, alright, um," stuttered Steve uneasily. "Well, uh, I was hoping you were awake. I mean, I know its not gentlemanly or appropriate to visit a da-LADY this late at night, but I was hoping you'd be awake?"

Danya blew out a breath and nodded with a small smile at his unease, eyes shooting to check the clock beside her cot. "Yeah, I'm awake Steve. When are you going to be by?"

"Uh...now?" his voice was sheepish and uncertain. It made Danya laugh as she walked over to open the heavy door into her lab. Steve was standing outside looking so awkward that Danya just wanted to hug him. No, don't even go there Danya. You'll eat him alive. She so would too, but he'd love it so much...no!

"Hey Steve, how'd it go tonight?" asked Danya as she opened the door the rest of the way to allow the bulky super-soldier in.

"I think I may have made a mistake," muttered Steve with a sigh as walked inside looking mopy.

Danya felt her heart ache for the sweet man. "What happened? Did she reject you?"

Steve shook his head quickly. "No, not at all. We're going to improve my skills with one of your computer things tomorrow."

"So you have a second date," confirmed Danya with a nod. "That's a good thing, so what's got you down?"

"I think she may have been insulted by the show tonight," admitted Steve sulkily.

Both of Danya's eyebrows furrowed. "You took her to a movie that insulted her?"

"Play," corrected Steve. "Its some awful show called Avenue Q. The things they did with puppets, well, its enough to make a fella want to do something rash."

She couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh or feel horrified for Steve. His date was fine, there was no question about that. Most people today knew what Avenue Q was, so she probably knew what she was getting into. But Steve definitely wouldn't have. God, the puppet sex scene probably scarred him for lift if the hooker parts didn't. "Oh god Steve, you poor guy."

Steve's head shot up and he gave her a confused look. "What?"

Danya laughed. "Steve, any girl today is going to know what to expect with Avenue Q. Most people have at least heard the song 'The Internet is for Porn', which is kinda a stage setter for what the rest of the show is like. That and 'Everyone's a little bit Racist'. Trust me, you're date wasn't horrified. You, however, have probably been scarred for life."

"Oh," muttered Steve, his face turning red. For several minutes he didn't say a word until he suddenly lifted his head and turned determined eyes on Danya. "I want you to talk to me, er, dirty?"

Now it was her turn to blush, though it was far less sever than Steve's own. "I'm sorry, what?"

He took a deep breath and plowed forward. "Talk to me like you would someone else. I'm easily embarrassed by how people talk and act now. Its nothing like home, and if I want any shot at this I need to get over that. You can curse and speak the way that makes me blush. So, do it."

She was still giving him the 'you've lost it' look. "Steve, I'm not going to try to break your moral expectations. For one thing, Fury would kill me. As in six-feet-under-with-a-knife-in-my-chest kill me. Or he'd order that creepy Natasha to do it, either way. For another, it isn't right. If this girl can't accept you as is, well, she really doesn't deserve you."

Steve's shoulders slumped a little at her refusal and he allowed his head to drop towards his chest. "I don't know what to do Danya. How is a fella supposed to catch a girl's eye now when people are so..."

"Lewd?" offered Danya as she dropped to her knees in front of Steve. "I know what you mean. Its hard to find a guy who won't talk to your chest, but that's what makes you stand out."

The confused look was back to she quickly explained. "Most guys now are inclined to, excuse my language, fuck you with their eyes before they even approach you." She watched the blush creep up Steve's cheeks and wanted to hug the man. His sensibilities were so delicate... "But, Steve, that's where you defer. You talk to a girls eyes, not her chest. Plus, there's the whole gentleman thing you've got going on. Honestly, first time you did the whole holding-doors-open-and-pulling-out-chairs thing with me, I thought you were trying to get into my pants." The blush darkened and she had to forcefully keep herself from laughing. "It took a bit, but I realized you're truly that kind of guy and this girl will see that too. You've just got to give it time. Tell me, is this other guy you're competing with a gentleman?"

"I don't know," admitted Steve. "I doubt it though, he seems crude."

Danya smiled softly at him and couldn't resist patting Steve on the head as she stood again. "Then just keep at it. You'll get there."

Steve nods, a sigh falling from his mouth. "But- he also lives with her."

"So?" asks Danya mildly. "I don't see why that's a big deal. She is single right?"

"According to her," confirmed Steve.

Danya shrugs. "Then its all good. I had two friends in high school who practically lived together some nights and there was nothing going on with them. Not that there shouldn't have been, and if one of them hadn't moved away I would have so locked them both in a closet until the ridiculousness stopped, but that's besides the point."

"Did they sleep in the same bed?" asked Steve uneasily. "I didn't see any sighs of the couch being occupied or a second bedroom..."

"Yeah, they did sometimes," confirmed Danya. "Again, not that weird. Well, at least I don't think its that weird. And this girls sounds like the kind who wouldn't care based on what you've told me. Don't let it keep you up at night."

Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It still ain't right. A fella and a gal, unattached, sleeping in the same bed."

Danya sighed again and handed Steve a cup of the coffee she always kept warm. "Look Steve, things have changed. I know Coulson only sent you to me so I could run your blood work, but I've taken it as a personal duty to educate you on modern standards. The reality is, women and men are equal now. Some of the interactions that you wouldn't have seen before do happen these days and are accepted. The reduced social boundaries between men and women are one of those changes. Men and women weren't really friends in the 40's right?"

Steve shook his head slowly, his eyes riveted on her. "No, it wasn't proper."

"Well, we're friends right?" asked Danya with a raised eyebrow. She already knew the answer.

"Of course!" exclaimed Steve, his eyes comically wide and nerves plastered across his face.

Danya chuckled a little. "Well, you're not trying to get in my pa- er, date me." Unfortunately. "So, women and men can be friends without any romantic intentions."

Steve nodded uncertainly. "Yeah, but we don't live together."

"So?" shrugged Danya. "You stay down here some nights while I'm working and I've stayed at your apartment before."

"True..." muttered Steve with a sigh. "Alright, I'll try not to let it bother me."

Danya nodded, satisfied and pulled up a stool so she could sit in front of Steve. "Now, tell me about what's happening tomorrow..."

Loki strode confidentially into S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, a box tucked under one arm casually. He had found the perfect gift for Darcy, or at least what he hoped would be perfect. The box shook a little in his arms but he ignored that in favor of locating his roommate. If he was correct, she would be in her office. The sound of her voice floating from the aforementioned room intermingled with the Captains own confirmed his suspicions.

Drawing in a breath of confidence, he swept up to the door and knocked on the frame. Walking straight in seemed like a poor choice and a violation of Darcy's privacy as well as an assumption. Normally he wouldn't have any reservations about such a thing as invading her space but he didn't want to get thrown out by Darcy if he pissed her off.

Two heads turned towards him from before the computer in Darcy's office. One belonged to Darcy, who gave Loki a wide grin, and the other belonged to an annoyed looking Steve. Apparently, the good Captain didn't like being denied alone time with Darcy. Too bad for him.

"Am I interrupting?" queried Loki, who refrained from smirking. He knew for a fact that he was interrupting but he didn't care. Steve shot him a glare which told him the good Captain knew exactly what Loki was doing. Good.

Darcy, however, shot him a bright grin and motioned him into the room. "Nope, not interrupting. We were actually done for the day. Steve needs a break before we move onto some of the really complicated stuff like sending e-mail and surfing the internet. With safe search on, of course." The last part was said with a wink which Loki knew the Captain couldn't see. Clearly, Darcy was having fun teaching Steve.

Loki nodded with a smile of his own. "Good. I was hoping I could steal you for lunch."

"Always!" exclaimed Darcy as she jumped up and grabbed her jacket. However, she paused when the box under his arm made a noise and shook a little. Slowly, she blinked a few times at the box, then tilted her head up to blink at Loki. "Why are you carrying around a physics theory?"

Both men made an odd sound that resembled verbal confusion and blinked cluelessly back at her. She sighed and muttered something about spending way too much time with Jane. "Schrodinger's Cat." When she was still met with clueless expressions, she rolled her eyes and took the box from Loki while shaking her head. "Its a physics theory about a cat in a box that is usually represented by the phrase: 'the cat is simultaneously alive and dead'. Its a quantum mechanics theory that became mainstream."

"I see," muttered Loki. "Well, that box is intended as a gift, not as representation of a theory concerning a potentially dead feline."

"I figured as much," sighed Darcy as she flipped open the lid and smiled a the small, black bundle of fur which blinked back at her from the blanketed depths of its cardboard home. "Hey little fella. What's up?"

The cat cocked its head at her uncertainly, mewed, and leaned on the open edge of the box to sniff experimentally at Darcy. She laughed softly in response and set the box down so she could pick the small animal up. "So, why the kitten?" Her brows furrowed with worry as her eyes snapped up to trace over Loki. "You aren't leaving again, are you?"

"No," assured Loki quickly. "I have no intention of leaving any time soon, if ever again."

"Good," grumbled Darcy as the kitten burrowed into her cleavage. Loki found the sight cute and, for a moment, he imagined a small version of himself or Darcy doing the same thing. Beside him, Rogers began to blush.

"So," blazed forward Darcy without seeming to realize how she looked with a kitten poking its head out from between her breasts. "Where did you want to go for lunch? Also, you're going to have to take this little gal home, I don't have time over lunch. I'll pick up the stuff for her on my way home."

Loki smiled and held open her jacket for her. She let the kitten rest in her shirt while she put on the jacket. "I have already procured all of the items she will require. All you must do is name her."

"Ninja," replied Darcy instantly. "Her name is Ninja."

He blinked at her for a moment, but nodded slowly. "Very well then, Ninja shale be her name."

Darcy grinned in return and turned to Rogers, who was still blushing madly. "Hey Steve, I'm gonna bow out for a bit. When I get back Tony's already procured me for the afternoon for some project he's working on. Something to do with the worm-hole generator. Anyway, I'll have to pick up your lesson's next time you're free."

"Perhaps tonight?" suggested Rogers quickly. "Tony gave me a computer, but I haven't set it up yet."

She considered it for a moment, and Loki could see her weighing the difficulty of explaining how to assemble a computer to Rogers and actually having the energy to do exactly that. He had seen how tired she often was from working with Stark. Apparently, the man was exasperating to work with in the technological field. "Let me think on that one Cap. I'll let you know later. Depends on how much shit Tony manages to blow up this afternoon."

Loki chuckled. "I hate to break up this little conversation," really, he didn't, "but, Darcy, you do only have a limited amount of time allotted for lunch. And you definitely must eat."

Darcy was giving him that 'you know I can skip a meal and be just fine look', which he knew wasn't a complete lie so long as she only skipped one meal. The issue was that she might skip multiples in a day. Or week. Still, she sighed and nodded. "Right. I'll see you later Steve. Text me if you want."

With that, Loki was able to pull her out the door and lead her down the hall with a hand on her lower back. Behind him, he missed Fury stepping into the hallway from the office across from Darcy's, shaking his head sadly.

"You're asking for death, trying for the Lewis girl." Fury's voice held a warning, but it was the kind that a father might give his wayward son. "Don't see what's that great about her anyway. She's trouble."

Steve sighed and shook his head. "She's fiery, an individual, confident, and beautiful. Like Peggy was."

Fury was giving him an assessing look, but shrugged none the less. "Just don't get killed doing this Captain. And don't let it interfere with your work. You're still an Avenger, and just because Loki decided to switch sides at the last minute doesn't mean he'll stay there. If it comes down to it, you need to be able to take down anyone. Miss Lewis' associate included."

"That won't be an issue, sir," promised Steve. Definitely not an issue.

Apparently satisfied, Fury nodded and handed something to Steve. "For Miss Lewis, from you of course." With that, the Director turned and walked away, leaving a gaping Steve behind him.

It took the super-soldier a moment before he slowly lifted the envelope in his hands up to the light. Inside, he could see two hard cards, which looked very much like the iTune's cards which seemed to be constantly scattered around Darcy's office. Still confused, Steve examined the envelop and noted the

words From Steve written across the back in his script. That was just creepy.

None-the-less, he lay the cards on her computer keyboard and left the office, unsure what to make of Fury's apparent support in his efforts.

Yeah, I know. Its not long. Still, it was a spur of the moment thing to add Fury to the mix of people who are involved and it just didn't seem right to keep going with this chapter after that little revelation.

So, the teams are thus:

Loki: Tony

Steve: Danya, Fury

More people are getting involved. Anyone have any guesses about who's next?