Elise walked the halls of Parmeri & Associates, all the way down to a corner she hadn't been to in quite some time – the investigators' offices. To her, those offices looked cluttered. The file cabinets that lined the walls seemed to close in and overwhelm the room, the desks were covered in knick-knacks, and to make matters worse, it must have been the only part of the firm that still did most of its work on paper. She hated going there.

An investigator Elise recognized as Jeffery, clad in khakis and a tucked-in, lime green polo, speed-walked toward her. "Elise," he said, surprised, "what're you doing here? We ain't got anything for the Laufeyson case yet."

"About that," Elise replied. "I need you to open up something old. Remember when Parmeri was talking about taking that case against Stark Industries?"

Jeff laughed. "Yeah," he said, starting to head toward a cabinet at the back of the office, "I remember that. What a clusterfuck."

Elise followed. "What do you mean? I thought the guy just dropped it once Parmeri told him he didn't have a case."

"Well, yeah, but it wasn't really like that." Jeff knelt in front of a a drawer labeled "Archive: X-Z" and started thumbing through the folders it contained. "We found a lot. I ain't a lawyer, but I know you guys have done harder stuff before. You could've won it, easy." Having located the correct file, he stood and handed it to Elise. "But I guess it don't matter now. What's this for, anyway?"

"Like I said, it's for the Laufeyson case," Elise lied. "Just want to have something ready for cross-examination."

Jeff scratched his chin. "But you don't even know if it's going to a jury yet, do ya? You don't even know who's gonna testify."

"Better safe than sorry, right?" Elise's heart beat faster; he could tell she was lying, couldn't he?

"I'm just givin' you a hard time," Jeff smiled. "I know you like havin' your ducks in a row. But hey, when you gonna bring those back?"

"Depends," Elise said. "Do you mind if I make some copies?"

"Go for it. Just bring 'em back when you're done." Jeff started back toward his desk. "Good to see ya, Elise."

"You too," Elise replied as she left, shutting the door to the offices behind her. She clutched the file tightly, walking a brisk walk toward the photocopier, which was situated near the newest associates' desks. She copied one of everything, looking over her shoulder periodically to make sure she wasn't caught in the act, although, she knew, her excuse was watertight. Forty pages later, she turned to retreat to her desk, and she nearly knocked over the associate who had tried to chat her up in the elevator the day before.

"Sorry," Elise said, trying to get by her with her copies and originals, but the associate didn't budge.

"Cute necklace," the associate remarked brightly.

"Thanks."

"Where'd you get it?"

Elise tensed. "Around." She just wanted to get back to work, but this other woman seemed to have something more to say. Worst of all, Elise couldn't even remember her name.

"Right," the associate laughed. "Anyway, Annie and I are going out for lunch today. Wanna come?"

"Sure, sounds fine," Elise replied hastily.

"Cool. See you at one." Finally, the associate walked off.

Elise made it back to her desk without incident, but even there, the interruptions didn't cease. She hid the copies she had just made in her desk drawer and logged into her desktop computer, but the monitor had barely even lit up when she heard Parmeri calling the shortened version of her name.

"'Lise!" he shouted as he walked to her as quickly as his short legs would carry him, a cell phone balanced between his shoulder and ear. "'Lise, we got a problem."

"What's up?" Elise asked, turning in her desk chair to face him.

"Laufeyson's got arraignment on Thursday, but nobody's heard from him. No word from Thor, either, and he's the one who's supposed to get him here. You got any idea what's going on?"

Elise knew exactly what was going on, and it ate at her. "He'll be there," she said, trying to remain calm. "Don't worry."

"You heard from him?" Parmeri asked hopefully.

"Not since I got back," Elise answered, "but I don't think he'd skip it."

Parmeri looked at his cell phone, sighed, and pocketed it. "I've been on hold for hours waiting for that Fury guy to pick up. I'm done, I've got things to do. They can't keep me on hold all day. They wanna obstruct justice, we'll sue the pants off 'em, right?"

"Yeah," Elise replied unenthusiastically, "right."

"So you think he'll be there?" Parmeri asked, clearly not convinced. "He knows he's supposed to be there? He's got a way to get there?"

"Definitely," Elise assured him, though she had no way of knowing what Loki planned to do.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. In fact, don't even worry about calling Fury back. I'll take care of it." The lies just kept pouring out. "It'll be fine."'

"Knew I could count on you. I'll e-mail you the number," Parmeri said as he started to walk away. "Thanks, 'Lise. Good to have you back."

Even with her boss long gone, Elise couldn't focus on any sort of work, especially not Loki's case. She scrolled through precedent cases on her computer, but she didn't absorb the words on the screen. She wasn't going to call S.H.I.E.L.D. to try to get a hold of Nick Fury; she was in too deep for that. She would somehow have to get Loki to his arraignment herself. Briefly, she wondered what he planned to do with Tony Stark's information, but she quickly put that thought out of her head. Whatever it was, Loki wasn't going to tell her, anyway.

Soon, lunch time came. Elise would likely have forgotten about the plans she had made with the associate whose name she still, embarrassingly, could not recall had that associate not stopped at her desk to retrieve her.

"Ready to go?"

Elise nodded. "Yup."

"Great," the associate said as she buttoned her coat. "Let's go get Annie."

"Where are we going?" Elise asked as she followed the mystery associate to Annie's desk.

"The bar," she replied. "Martini lunch!"

"Nice," Elise said. "I could use a drink."

Annie had already pushed in her chair and put on her jacket by the time the others reached her desk. "Hey Cara, hey Elise. Ready?"

Cara. That was her name. Elise repeated it in her head until she was sure she wouldn't forget it.

The trio walked to the bar, two blocks away, chatting about work as they did. It was nice, Elise thought, to finally socialize with someone other than Loki. In a way, though, she wasn't ready for it. Cara and Annie were lawyers. They had an agenda, and though it was probably nothing malicious, Elise knew better than to let them pry too much into her personal or professional life, especially with the secret she was keeping.

When they arrived, they were quickly seated, and Cara ordered three extra-dry martinis. Elise was more of a beer person, and she suspected that Cara was, too. After all, had Cara been the connoisseur of hard liquor she was pretending to be, she would have known that she had just ordered three glasses of gin.

"I like your necklace, Elise," Annie said with a smile.

"I know, right?" Cara chirped before Elise could say anything. "I was saying that earlier. She won't tell me where it's from, though."

"Cara, stop it," Annie replied playfully, "it's probably from her boyfriend."

Elise faked a laugh. "It's not from my boyfriend," she said.

"So guys are just handing you jewelry left and right?" said Annie.

"Yup," Elise half-joked. "I'm running out of places to keep it all."

Their drinks arrived, and they each took a sip. Elise cringed, then took another swig despite the martini's strength.

"Laufeyson giving you trouble?" Cara asked.

Elise nearly spat her drink on the tablecloth. "What?" she said.

Cara covered her mouth as she laughed. "The Laufeyson case, Elise. Guess I hit a sore spot. I'm just asking, 'cause Parmeri looked like he was freaking out earlier."

Elise sighed. "Yeah," she said, "it's a tough one, that's for sure."

"But do you really think insanity's the best way to go?" Cara said. "You know that even if he's not guilty, with that defense, they'll just order him into a psych facility forever, right?"

"You guys are telling your client to plead insanity?" Annie said, her eyes wide. "That's bold."

"I know," Cara responded. "But Elise wouldn't have suggested it if it wasn't going to work."

"No, 'course not." Annie shook her head in insincere agreement.

In an attempt to change the subject, Elise asked, "Annie, what are you working on right now? Anything good?"

"Nothing as good as Laufeyson," Annie replied. "We're about to go to court with the big pharmaceutical case."

"Which one?" Cara asked.

"The one with the anti-depressants," Annie said. "Birth defects."

Cara nodded. "Right."

"But like I said," Annie continued, pausing to gingerly sip her drink, "nothing really interesting. It's not every day your firm signs up to defend a terrorist, though."

"Hey, watch it," Elise said, somehow affronted. "That's my client."

"Well, jeez, sorry," said Annie. "What else are you gonna call him if not that?"

Elise shrugged. "I don't know," she replied, "but he's not a terrorist. And should we really be talking about this in public?"

"Elise, relax," Cara urged. "He's all over the news, it's not like it's actually confidential. Why are you suddenly all about him being innocent, anyway?"

"I'm not," Elise argued, in part to convince herself. "Just... can we talk about something else, please? Aren't there any rumors going around?"

Cara and Annie looked to each other, then into their martini glasses.

"Actually," Annie said, "that's why we wanted to take you out to lunch."

"Yeah," Cara added, "we're kind of worried."

They were prying. Elise took another swig of gin to calm her nerves. "What's wrong?" she asked as confidently as she could.

"You wanna say it?" Annie asked Cara.

"No," Cara replied, "you say it, that's why you're here."

"Okay," Annie said as she turned to Elise. "So, Cara says you were acting weird yesterday. We just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Also," Cara said, "you're acting kind of weird today, too. Plus, right after you show up with a sprained wrist, new jewelry."

"What are you saying?" Elise asked cautiously.

Annie sighed melodramatically, leaned toward Elise, and took her hand in hers. "Elise," she said, her voice hushed, "are you in... an abusive relationship?"

"No," Elise laughed, "of course not, no."

Annie looked relieved, but Cara seemed skeptical. "How'd you sprain your wrist, then?" she asked, folding her arms.

"I fell down some stairs," Elise lied. "Seriously, it was an accident."

"Okay," Cara said, clearly unconvinced. "But tell us if you need anything, alright?"

"Sure," Elise said, although there were about one hundred people she would have gone to with a problem like that before she talked to two co-workers she barely knew about it. "Thanks."

"Now that that's out of the way," said Cara, a sly smile creeping across her face, "tell us who gave you your necklace!"

"Cara," Annie whined, "leave her alone."

"No, it's fun," Cara laughed. "Who's the guy?"

"Nobody," Elise deflected. "Why don't you tell me about your boyfriend, Cara?"

"I'm happily single," Cara replied.

"I'm engaged," Annie offered. "Have been for about a year."

"Congrats," said Elise.

"Come on," Cara pushed. "You've got a boyfriend. What does he do?"

"I don't have a boyfriend." Elise finished her drink, and when she emerged from the glass, she felt dizzy.

Cara's smile widened. "It's someone from work, isn't it?" she whispered.

"God, no," Elise said.

"Girlfriend?" Annie asked.

"Nope," Elise answered.

Annie threw up her hands. "I'm out of guesses."

"Prove it, then." Cara turned in her chair, looking around the room. "See that guy at the bar?" she said, tilting her head in his direction. "If there's no boyfriend, go hit on him."

"No way," Elise laughed. "That's outrageous. Nobody's drunk enough for that."

"I'll pay for your drink if you do," Cara urged. "Come on!"

The offer was tempting, especially as Elise wasn't sure whether the bar accepted checks. She leaned to look at her target; from afar, he wasn't bad. His hair was short, and he wore a suit, so he probably had a job, too. After a few seconds of thought, Elise acquiesced, her judgment sufficiently clouded by the gin. "Fine," she said as she stood, "deal."

Looking over her shoulder as she walked to the bar, Elise saw Cara and Annie both staring at her, using their hands to hide their mouths as they gossiped, and immediately, she felt like a fool. Still, she took the bar stool right next to the strange man to prove that she could, if nothing else.

"Hey," Elise said. "What's your name?"

"Hi there," the man responded, turning to reveal a handsome, lightly freckled face. "I'm Joe. Who are you?"

"I'm Elise," she said. "Sorry to bug you, my friends pushed me to come over and talk to you."

"You're not bugging me at all," Joe smiled, wrinkles forming at the corners of his mouth. "You want a drink?"

"I shouldn't," Elise said, "I have to get back to work after this."

"Me too," Joe replied. "You work around here?"

"Yeah, I'm a lawyer. You?"

"I'm in finance." Joe brought his bottled beer to his lips. "You're at Parmeri & Associates, right?"

"Yeah," Elise said, surprised. "How'd you guess?"

"You're famous," he laughed. "Haven't you been watching the news?"

"Haven't really had time."

Joe laughed again. "Who does?"

There was a long pause. Elise looked up to avoid staring at him.

"You're cuter in person, you know," he said.

Elise smiled her first honest smile in days. "Thanks," she said, "you're not too bad, either."

"How'd you hurt your arm?"

"Huh?"

"Your arm," Joe repeated. "What happened?"

"Oh, ski accident," Elise said. "I had a ski accident." She hadn't been skiing since she moved to New York.

"You ski? That's cool," he replied. "I'm a snowboarder, though."

"I guess that makes us rivals," Elise flirted.

"I guess it does." Joe took one last swig of his beer, then set the empty bottle down on the bar. "Well, listen, I've got to go. Can I give you my card?"

It had gone surprisingly well, Elise thought. "Yeah, definitely," she said. "I wish I could give you mine, but I don't have them on me."

"Well then," Joe said as he pressed the business card into her hand, "I guess I'll have to wait for you to call me." He stood and started toward the door. "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Elise responded, still stunned at the success of Cara's plan. She returned to the table.

"Oh my God," Cara squealed, "did I see him give you his number?"

"You did," Elise confirmed, still enjoying the boost in her confidence. "You owe me one martini, miss."

"You make that look easy," Annie said. "Even if I was still single, I wouldn't have done it."

"I guess I'm a natural," Elise responded as she watched Cara pay the bill. "Believe me now, Cara?"

It wasn't until she returned to her desk, still a little wobbly, that Elise remembered that she would not be calling Joe, nor would she be calling anyone else. Besides the fact that she no longer had a phone, she couldn't get away from home for long enough to go on a date. It was, perhaps, one of the most saddening effects of Loki's occupation of her apartment; he was all the company she had. She buried herself in work and avoided the thought for a while.

Near the end of the day, Elise realized that she had never returned what she had borrowed from Jeff that morning. She shut down her computer, cleaned up her desk a bit, then removed the copies and originals from her desk drawer and headed to the investigators' offices on her way out of the building.

"Jeff still here?" she asked a tired-looking woman at the desk nearest the door.

"He sits over there," the woman replied, gesturing slightly with her head but never moving her eyes from her computer screen.

Quickly, Elise located him and handed him the file. "Sorry it took so long. I got distracted."

"No problem," Jeff replied brightly. "It's not like anyone needed it, anyway."

"Have a good night," Elise said as she fled to the elevator with the copies.

Arriving home to an empty apartment again, Elise, unhappy and apprehensive, dropped the Stark-related papers on the couch for lack of a table, then darted to the kitchen for a beer. She drank quickly, half-consciously hoping to knock herself out. When she finished the first, she took a second can from the refrigerator and went to her room to sit on her bed. Forgetting her concerns about Loki's plans, she was overwhelmed by her isolation.

"Are you lonely?" a familiar voice inquired, and Loki appeared to her in a shroud of light, the same way he had the day before.

Elise nodded, closing her eyes until the room was dim again. She lifted the can of beer, rolled her head back, and took a drink. Then she looked at Loki's face, expecting the sight of him to inspire anger in her. Instead, his mournful expression only caused Elise to feel selfish, and for that, disappointed in herself. She teared up. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm having a hard time."

"No, it is I who should apologize," Loki replied convincingly as he closed the space between himself and Elise. He sat down beside her. "I have made your home your cage. Is that it?"

Elise thought about her response for only a second before nodding again, her chin quivering as she started to cry. She leaned to place the mostly-empty beer can on her nightstand, then cradled her spinning head in her hands to hide her wet face. Loki's armor clattered as he moved, and Elise felt his arm snake around her shoulders as he pulled her closer, trapping her in an embrace.

"You may think it unfair," he growled dully, "but soon enough this will be over, and all of this will be justified."

"But what if it's not?" Elise wept into him. His touch was comforting; it didn't matter at that moment who he was. "What if you can't do it? Even if you can, what then?"

His face pressed into her hair, Loki breathed a tense sigh. "Those things are not yours to worry about."

"You keep saying that," Elise complained, pulling away and lifting her head. "You keep saying it, but you won't tell me what it means!"

Loki seized her face in his hands, turning her head so that she would look at him. "You poor creature," he said, the sympathy in his voice heavy enough to feel real. "Can you not see? The weight of freedom crushes you. Do you not understand that?"

"Yes," Elise sobbed, resting her hands on his thighs. "I get it! But what do I do?"

"How many times must I tell you?" Loki urged. "I will take this burden from you. I will be all that you need. Simply-"

In what she thought at first was a drunken impulse, Elise lurched forward and kissed him squarely on his lips, holding herself there for a crystallized second. She stopped herself, sure that her embarrassment and terror were made obvious by the way she sat and stared, deathly still. However, before she could apologize for the incident, Loki's fingers crept along her scalp, sinking into her hair, and he pulled her back to him for another. His kiss was forceful, but neither desperate nor hungry, and as he slowly broke away, he gently guided Elise's head backward, exposing her neck.

"What were you thinking?" he breathed against her ear.

"I wasn't," she rasped.

"Good girl."

Loki's mouth found Elise's throat, sending a shiver through her skin and drawing a helpless moan from her chest. She let him topple her, let him remove the clothes and armor from both of their bodies, and she didn't protest as he, over the course of an hour, made her lips part, her back arch, and her eyelids flutter closed even as he demanded she open them. And when, at the very end of their session, she did open her eyes, she could just barely see the malevolence still in his.