Elise sat in a jail cell for only a few hours before Skip Parmeri arrived to bail her out.

"No more running," he said in the back of the cab. "There's lien on my house and another one on my office. You run off, and I got nothing."

"Like you said, I'm not going anywhere but home," Elise replied.

"Home?" Parmeri frowned. "You can't go home."

"Why not?"

"Your apartment's a crime scene. You can stay at my place." He tapped the touch screen on his phone, and his frown deepened. "Can't get a hold of my kid, though. If she's home, she's not gonna like this."

"Are you sure it's okay?" Elise asked. "I could just go to a hotel."

"I'd feel better about it," Parmeri said.

Elise contemplated what he meant by that. She certainly hadn't given him any reason to trust her, and besides that, he probably should have been more cautious, given the charges pending against her. At least he didn't think she was a killer, even if he didn't believe her when she said she wouldn't take off.

"Thank you," she said.

"It's nothing, 'Lise," said Parmeri. "I'm just glad you made it back in one piece, y'know?"

Elise nodded and turned to stare out the window.

"You been watching the news?" Parmeri asked.

"Here and there," Elise answered.

"They've been all over you, trying to make it look sexy for TV. Like a 'Bonnie and Clyde' sort of deal." He paused, looked at the floor of the cab, and said, "It isn't like that, right?"

The implication was hurtful. Perhaps, Elise admitted to herself, she should have resisted Loki's influence more vigorously, but "Bonnie and Clyde" was not at all the reality she had been living. Had it been, she might not have suffered as much as she did.

"It's nothing like that," Elise said, her head and neck heavy with the suppressed urge to cry. "I promise you, it was absolutely nothing like that."

"Hey, 'Lise, don't get upset." Parmeri's tone was apologetic. "I believe ya, and I'm gonna fight for ya. I just gotta get the whole picture. You know how it is."

They arrived at Parmeri's building, and they took the elevator up to his relatively spacious, richly-decorated home. Elise seated herself in the first piece of furniture within reach, the leather armchair, the ubiquitous piece of furniture required of successful Manhattan attorneys. She sighed, finally able to rest the one good leg that had been supporting her weight all day. Moreover, away from Loki, and with his circumstances out of her control, her paranoia, her helplessness, and her desperation for his approval began to fade from her consciousness. She closed her eyes, and she didn't reopen them until she heard Parmeri's footsteps approaching.

He handed Elise a glass of water – which she eagerly accepted – and kept the glass of red wine in his hand for himself. He sat down on his couch, leaned back, and inhaled contentedly. "Okay," he exhaled, "what happened?"

Suddenly, Elise was tense again. She wasn't ready to talk, but with only two days before the start of the trial, she knew that she had to. "I don't even know where to start."

"How 'bout the beginning?" Parmeri suggested.

"The beginning's kind of a blur." Elise sipped her water; it was the most satisfying beverage she had ever imbibed. "I guess he put the wool over my eyes."

"How'd he manage that?"

Elise shrugged. "I told you, it's a blur. Everything seemed to be going okay. He got a hold of my anxiety meds and tried to poison his brother, his mom, and that scientist – what's her name?"

"Foster?"

"Yeah." She paused, retracing her steps in her head. "Before I knew it, he moved in with me."

Fat wrinkles formed in Parmeri's forehead. "You're tellin' me that this all started when you came back to work?"

"Before that," Elise admitted, ashamed. "From day one, he was..." She couldn't find the appropriate words for what Loki had done.

"He was trying to get in your head, right?" Parmeri said. "Get you going out of your way for him?"

"Oh," Elise said, sitting up straight, "you have no idea."

"What next?"

She took a deep breath and gathered herself. "He started controlling everything. At first, he was threatening me, but then, it was like having a kid."

"One hell of a kid," Parmeri mused.

"You're telling me," Elise replied. "He wouldn't let me leave the house until we ran out of food. He wouldn't have let me go to the office until I told him someone would come looking for me if I wasn't there."

Parmeri leaned forward. "So he's holdin' you hostage at this point, right?"

"Right."

He leaned back again. "I could work with that." He mulled it over for a moment longer, and then, his focus returned to Elise. "Keep goin'."

Elise didn't know how to tell the next part of the story. She recalled the events, but she couldn't explain them. "The next part's... weird."

"It's all weird," Parmeri said. "What happened?"

Elise glanced at her forearm. It was badly scarred; it hadn't healed well. "He got violent," she recounted tearfully. "I should have seen it coming. He'd get in my face, yell, pull my hair. Then, a day or two in, he burned my wrist." She held it up to illustrate. "See that?"

Parmeri cringed. "That's what that was?" he said. "I knew something wasn't right."

Elise nodded, and she tensed her face to stop herself from crying, but after a moment, she burst. "I thought if I did what he said, he'd stop," she gushed. "I told him I loved him, and that was bullshit, at least at the time. He put the idea in my head and I couldn't shake it. Not after..." In fact, she couldn't pinpoint what it was that made her behave the way she did. "God, what was I thinking?"

Parmeri took a sip of his wine, then asked the question: "You slept with him?"

"Yeah." Elise took a deep breath, but it wasn't enough to calm her. "I know it's the worst thing I could have done. I know."

"It happens," said Parmeri. "But now you're lookin' at a rape charge, on top of everything else."

"What is that about?" Elise complained. "He beat the hell out of me! The whole time, he was back and forth. One minute it was 'I'm gonna make you the queen of the world,' and the next minute, he was all, 'I could kill you, I could choke you, I could do this and that.' And then he'd do it! I was..." She stopped herself before she revealed something too intimate.

"You were what?" Parmeri pushed. He seemed upset by what she had said, but he was still trying to get the facts out of her. "What were you gonna say?"

"I was in the hospital," Elise said.

"What for?"

"Concussion."

"How?"

Elise pulled at her hair and winced as she tried to recall what had occurred that day. "We were arguing," she recalled. "There's this whole other side-issue, but I don't think it's relevant to-"

"What's the side issue?" Parmeri interrupted. "I'll stop ya if it's irrelevant."

Elise rubbed her temples to relieve some of the pressure in her head. "I think he's trying to... ugh." She shuddered. "I don't even want to talk about it."

"It gets worse?" Parmeri's eyes widened.

"He's trying to get me pregnant," Elise blurted. "I'm ninety-nine percent sure he is."

Parmeri covered his mouth with his hand, but his eyes conveyed his shock and disgust. "'Lise, that's... the most screwed-up thing I've ever heard come outta your mouth."

"I know," she replied. "This is the hell I've been living in. And then, yesterday, he..." She felt suddenly sick; a panic was coming on. "If S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't shown up with a helicopter, he would've..."

"I get where you're goin'," Parmeri assured her, shaking his head slowly. "I'm so sorry, 'Lise. I never should'a taken him on as a client."

Elise nodded in agreement. "Are you gonna drop him?"

"I can't drop either of you," Parmeri said, throwing his chubby hands up in front of him. "I only got two days. Media's gonna crucify me."

"Does it really matter?" Elise said, a bit irritated at his misplaced concern.

"They've been crucifying me all week," he complained. "If I drop either of ya, they're gonna spin it, and I'm gonna look like a jackass. I drop him, I'm suddenly a coward, 'cause I'm backing away from a tough case. I drop you, the women's groups'll come outta the woodwork soon as all that comes out at trial." He shrugged. "I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elise asked, offended.

"Whaddaya mean?"

"When 'all that' comes out," she said. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Parmeri took a big swig of wine. "Jeez, 'Lise, I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how did you mean it?"

He sighed. "Look, I'm in a tough spot, here. I got one client with his head on the chopping block – not that he doesn't deserve it, but a client's a client – and best case scenario there is that he'll get put in an institution for the rest of his life. Then I got another client who's would've been kinda sympathetic – battered woman, crying on the stand, all that – except I also got a jury that's out for blood, and they're not gonna get it from the other guy once they hear the shrink's testimony." He brought the wine glass to his mouth and finished off its contents. "I'm tryin', 'Lise," he said. "I'm lookin' at this as a lawyer, y'know? I wanna look at it as your friend, or your boss, but..." He shrugged. "It is what it is."

Elise closed her eyes and rested her head in her hand. "This trial's barely even a trial anymore," she groaned. "Someone threw a Slurpee at me outside the court."

"If trials always went smooth, I'd be out of a job," Parmeri replied. "But I gotta tell ya, I'm worried about our chances, here."

Elise looked down, then back at Parmeri. "What's gonna happen to me?" she asked pitifully. "Do you think I'll get the death penalty?"

Parmeri shook his head. "Even if you do, it won't hold up on appeal." He looked away; he seemed deeply worried. "But, 'Lise, you gotta be ready for the possibility of life."

"I can refute every one of those charges."

"Can you do it without incriminating Loki?"

She thought about it for a moment; she couldn't. "If Mercure puts me on the stand, I'm telling the truth."

"Fine," Parmeri said. "But I know you can do that without getting your co-defendant executed."

Loki wouldn't let that happen to himself, Elise thought. She pitied anyone tasked with putting restraints on his arms or needles in his veins. She didn't want him to die, but she knew that he wouldn't, no matter what testimony she gave. He was a god, but she wasn't, and she had her own life to worry about.

At that moment, the door opened slowly, and a short, round, black-haired 20-something entered the apartment.

"Dad?"

Skip Parmeri stood. "Erica," he said, "where ya been?"

"Out," she said. She looked at Elise, and her tone became accusatory. "Dad, what are you doing?"

"You've met Elise," he said. "She's gonna be staying in the spare room. Few days, tops."

"What?" Erica exclaimed. "What the hell, dad?"

"It's an emergency."

"You're divorced for a month and you've already got girls coming over?"

"Is that what you think this is about?" Parmeri raised his voice. "What kinda person do you think I am?"

Erica turned her anger to Elise. "What're you trying to do, get a promotion?" she sneered. "You're both pathetic!"

"Jesus tap-dancing Christ, Erica, d'ya watch the news?" Parmeri shouted. "This is Elise Milton!"

"Yeah, I know," Erica said on her way out. "I'm going to Amber's until she's gone. I hope she kills you like she killed that park ranger!" With that, she slammed the door shut, and the apartment was quiet again.

Parmeri let out a frustrated sigh. "Sorry 'bout that," he said. "She's outta control."

"Seems like she's having a hard time," said Elise.

"She's always havin' a hard time," Parmeri replied. He started toward the kitchen, then turned his head and asked, "Want a glass of wine?"

Elise considered it for a few seconds before she said, "Yes, please."

When Parmeri returned to the living room, he handed Elise a glass, then retook his seat and resumed drinking. "Y'know why I like my job so much, 'Lise?"

"Why?" she asked.

"It's like I've got more kids," he said. "Not that I think the new associates are kids, but, y'know..."

The mention of offspring made Elise feel sick to her stomach. "I guess I don't get it."

"Like you, 'Lise," said Parmeri. "You came in after law school, you were 'bout Erica's age, but you had your act together. My daughter's a burnout. So when kids like you come up, kids who just wanna work hard and, y'know, contribute something, it's a second chance. I got to see you win your first case, got to see you deal with some tough clients..." He paused. "Got your name on TV, for better or worse."

"Thanks." Elise stared into the wine glass, holding it by the stem and swirling the liquid in the bowl. "I hope you didn't have any hopes and dreams pinned on me, though."

"Disappointment's part of the family experience," Parmeri replied. "So's bailing your kids outta jail once in a while."

Elise couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"So," Parmeri said, "where were we?"

"With what?"

"With the timeline."

"Oh." Elise had hoped that the interruption had been enough to end the conversation. "Um, the hospital, I guess."

"No, before that," Parmeri corrected. "How'd you get there?"

"Well..." that piece of the memory was particularly foggy. "After he hit me, I blacked out for a while." She searched for the right pieces of information. "Captain America woke me up, believe it or not. And Tony Stark was there, too. They called an ambulance."

"I heard about that," said Parmeri. "Mercure's callin' them as witnesses. You think they can help us on cross?"

"They can help me," Elise said. "They can corroborate the..." She went quiet. "You know, the abuse."

"Like I said, you might need to be quiet about that," Parmeri cautioned. "I'm tryin' to prove that Loki doesn't know right from wrong, but I don't think anyone's gonna buy that he didn't know it was wrong to hit a woman. That hurts his case, makes him look evil."

"It's my case, too," Elise grumbled, frustrated. "Anyway, they saw me at the hospital. They know I wasn't cogent enough to form any kind of mens rea for murder."

"Speaking of that, how'd you wind up in Allegheny?" Parmeri asked. "I've been outta the loop. Nobody's told me anything these past couple of days."

"That's because S.H.I.E.L.D. got involved at the hospital," Elise said. "They wouldn't even tell me where we were going until I'd already agreed to go with them."

"Agreed?"

"Yeah."

"You didn't have to go?"

"No, I had to."

Parmeri looked puzzled. "You had to, but you didn't have to?"

"You don't understand how Loki is," Elise explained. "S.H.I.E.L.D. had already caught him by the time they got to me. They wanted information about him that they thought I had."

"Did they offer you any kind of deal?" Parmeri inquired.

"Yeah," Elise replied matter-of-factly. "They said they could clear everything up."

"And you didn't take it?" Parmeri seemed upset the way a baseball fan would be upset by an umpire's poor judgment. "You must've asked 'em for something else, right?"

"Right, of course."

"What was it?"

"I asked them to let me see Loki." As the words came out, Elise realized just how stupid she had been.

"You traded a pardon for a few minutes with the guy that just beat you up?" Disbelief was written on Parmeri's face. "What's wrong with you, kid?"

"You don't understand," Elise said, defensive. "Loki can see everything I do. He would've known if I talked to S.H.I.E.L.D."

Parmeri seemed skeptical. "Sounds like we could've pled insanity for you, too."

"No, seriously," said Elise. "He's probably listening to this right now. Just watch, tomorrow, he'll..." She trailed off; she had scared herself. What if he was listening? If he was paying attention, he had heard everything Elise had just said. "Where's Loki now?" Elise asked.

"Hopefully, in his cell, talking to a shrink," Parmeri said. "Cara's over there."

Elise shivered. "Is Thor going to be in the courtroom when the trial starts?" she asked.

"Yeah," Parmeri said, "he's our witness. Why?"

Elise paused and stared into her mostly-full wine glass. "Just in case."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"You don't get how Loki operates," Elise said. "He's not scared of a judge, or corrections officers... I mean, I've seen him stomp someone to death. I've seen him punch through a wall. He's not human."

"He's not gonna come after you in front of a hundred witnesses," Parmeri assured her. "The courtroom's gonna be packed."

"You don't know that," Elise said. "He's completely unpredictable."

"'Lise, there's nothing to worry about. He's not-"

"I'm sorry," Elise interrupted, "how long have you spent with him again?"

"I've only met with him once, but I-"

"No. No 'but.'" With a mean scowl on her face, she took a sip of wine. "After these past couple of weeks, I know him better than his own family does. I know how he reacts to things, and if he heard any of this, I'm telling you, he's going to try something." She took a breath to calm herself. "I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm really scared. I've been scared for a while."

It seemed that there was nothing Parmeri could say in response; he attempted to change the subject. "Maybe you shouldn't be drinking. Y'know, just in case."

"In case of what?" Elise snapped in response. "In case I fly off the handle? Or in case I'm knocked-up?"

"Dammit, 'Lise!" Parmeri shouted. "I'm tryin' to help, here. I'm stickin' my neck out for you. Way out. You're actin' like a lunatic."

"You don't believe a word I'm saying to you, do you?" Elise accused. "You think I wished all this on myself."

Parmeri stood as quickly as his oddly-proportioned body would allow. "You wanna know what I think, 'Lise? I don't think ya wished it on yourself, and I don't think you were askin' for anything. But I don't buy it. The 'Lise I know doesn't let anyone push 'er around like that. I think you were stressed-out at work. You were tired of dealin' with other folks' problems for 'em. I know, 'cause I've been there. I think you kinda liked that this thing fell into your lap and gave you an excuse to drop everything for a while, let someone else call the shots and take the blame for it." He took a few short steps toward the kitchen, stopped, and took a deep breath. "If ya needed a vacation that bad, you should've asked." With that, he disappeared for another drink.

Elise wanted to be furious with Skip Parmeri for what he had just said, but she was silenced by her own self-doubt. She sat in the chair with her mouth hanging open, still attached to her own story, but apprehensive about the possibility that its premise was bullshit.