The day before the start of the trial, Skip Parmeri paced around his apartment, fielding long phone calls from the prosecutor's office and short phone calls from journalists.

"How'd you get this number?" he would ask loudly. "My client has no comment. Yes, I'm sure!"

Elise sat in the armchair in the living room, fidgeting and tapping her good foot. A second pot of coffee was already brewing in the kitchen, but she had already had too much, and she was jittery. With almost every channel flooded with speculation about her fate and Loki's, she didn't dare turn the television on. Even so, there was nothing that could distract her; her thoughts kept returning to the trial, and when she wasn't thinking about the trial, she was thinking about Loki.

She resolved not to regret what she said to him at the jail. Whether she had ever really loved him or not, it had become clear that the sentiment was never reciprocated. The gruesome details of the threat he made played repeatedly in her head, and although they frightened her, they didn't shake her. She was proud of herself for holding herself together in his presence, but she was disturbed by the way her heart was hardening. She had never fantasized about killing someone before that day. The guilt felt worse than her fear of death or prison.

"'Lise," Parmeri called when he was finally able to take a break from the phone, "you just gonna sit around all day?"

"Probably," Elise mumbled, staring at the intersection between the wall and ceiling.

"These could be your last days of freedom," Parmeri said. "Not that you should go out partyin', but at least make some phone calls, or somethin'."

"You don't exactly sound confident," she replied. "Was it something Mercure said?"

With his cell phone still in his hand, Parmeri seated himself on the couch. "You gotta be prepared for the chance you'll get life, 'Lise."

"I know."

"Then what're you doin' still sittin' there?"

"I'm processing it," Elise answered irritably.

Parmeri sighed and held his phone out to Elise. "Call your mom."

"What?"

"Call her." He extended his arm farther so that she could take the phone. "You don't think your mom's worryin' about you?"

Elise shrugged. "She's probably freaking out," she said, "but what's a phone call going to solve?"

"Just call her, 'Lise," Parmeri insisted. "I'd be worried sick if I was her."

Begrudgingly, Elise took the phone and dialed her parents' landline. As it rang, Parmeri left the room, heading for the kitchen.

Her mom picked up. "Hello?"

The sound of her voice sent a jolt through Elise's chest. "Mom?" she said. "It's me, Elise."

"Oh, my God!" Her mother was very obviously both relieved and stunned. "My baby! Where are you? Are you alright? What's happening?"

"Mom, I'm fine," Elise said, trying to keep calm. "I'm at Skip Parmeri's house."

"Your boss? The lawyer?"

"Yeah." Elise paused. "I don't think he's my boss anymore, though."

She heard her mother speaking to her father in the background of the phone call.

"Your dad and I were so scared," her mom said. "We didn't know what to believe from the news. What's this all about, Elise?"

"It's complicated..."

"Please, Elise. Just tell me the truth. I'll love you no matter what."

Those words hurt Elise, and for the first time that day, she teared up. "It's all really hard to explain, and it would just hurt your feelings."

"No," her mother said, "thinking you were dead hurt my feelings. No matter how bad things are, Elise, I want you to tell me." She started crying, too. "I don't know this person you've been with. First, I hear my daughter's missing, and then I hear she's with... a terrorist? Isn't he a terrorist?"

"Innocent until proven guilty, mom. I can't-"

"'Innocent until proven guilty?' Don't lawyer me, Elise. What did he do to you? Are you alright?"

The question sent Elise into full-blown hysterics. "Mom, I really don't want to talk about it. It's exhausting. I'm in so much pain..."

"You're in pain?" her mother cried. "Why are you in pain?"

Between sobbing and gasping, Elise was able to give her mother a brief summary. "I bumped my head, and someone shot me with an arrow, and I've been getting dragged all over creation... I'm tired, and I'm miserable, and now, I have to court tomorrow, and they're gonna..." She was beginning to hyperventilate. "Mom, they're gonna send me to jail!"

"No, they can't send you to jail if you didn't do anything wrong, can they?"

"That's not how a trial works, mom." Elise took a deep breath, but she couldn't quite take control of herself. "I wish I could just come home and forget any of this ever happened."

"I wish you could, too." The voice on the phone was calmer now. "Do you want to talk to your dad?"

"Yeah," Elise squeaked. "I love you, mom."

"I love you too." She could be heard starting to cry again. "Here's dad."

Elise waited as the phone in New Jersey changed hands.

"Elise? Sweetie?"

"Hi dad," Elise said. "I miss you."

"Where on God's green earth have you been?" He sounded desperate for information. "Your mom's been crying every day, and your brothers... I had to take Nicky's car keys to keep him from going to New York to look for you by himself."

"I'm sorry, dad, I don't know what to say."

"You don't know what to say?" Her dad was becoming agitated, and as his voice became louder, it became distorted over the phone. "An explanation would be nice. You could talk about how you didn't call, or how you've been running around with Loki goddamn Laufeyson this entire time, or how-"

Elise couldn't understand why she was being shouted at. "I wasn't 'running around,' dad. I was doing my job, and... I got into some trouble."

"I'm just so concerned about the decisions you're making, Elise."

When she heard that, Elise hung up the phone as quickly as she could. She set it down on the arm of the chair, buried her face in her palms, and made an ugly howling noise as she cried.

"God!" she screeched, "I knew that was a bad idea!"

"Relax, 'Lise," Parmeri said as he returned to the living room. "Whatever they said, your folks still love you."

"They wouldn't even let me get a word in," Elise complained. "Not that I can talk to them about this, anyway. My mom would never get over it if she knew half of what Loki's done to me, and my dad... well, my dad seems pretty convinced that I wished this all on myself."

"All that from a ten-minute phone conversation, huh?"

"Ugh!" Elise clenched her fists to stop herself from throwing Parmeri's phone to the floor and watching it shatter. "I can't take this anymore!"

"You were doin' okay up until last night," Parmeri recalled. "Did Loki say somethin'?"

"Do you even care if he did?" Elise shouted. "And, no, I wasn't doing okay. I haven't been doing okay since..."

She almost didn't hear someone knocking on the door over the sound of her own voice.

"Better not be one of those vultures," Parmeri sighed as he bumbled to the front door. "Stay put in case it is."

Elise twisted in the armchair to see who was at the entrance, and in her peripheral vision, she caught sight of a familiar face.

"Steve Rogers?" said Parmeri, confused. "What're you doin' here?"

"Is Elise here?" Steve asked.

Before Parmeri could shoo him away, Elise gathered her crutches and got to her feet. "I'm here," she said. Her face was embarrassingly swollen and red. She never seemed to run into Captain America when she was at her best.

"Sorry, Mr. Rogers," Parmeri said, "but you gotta go. I don't need prosecution witnesses over here givin' my clients a hard time."

"I'm not here to give anyone a hard time," said Steve. "I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help."

Parmeri lingered in the doorway, blocking Steve's path.

"He probably can help, actually," said Elise, sniffling. "Just let him in."

"Alright," Parmeri said, moving away from the door. "Come on."

"Thanks," Steve said as Parmeri closed the door behind him. "How've you been, Elise?"

"Not great," she said, retaking her seat. "You?"

"Fine, fine," Steve said with a nervous nod.

There was an uncomfortable lapse in conversation until Parmeri said, "You wanna sit down?"

"Sure thanks," replied Steve. He sat on the couch near Elise's chair.

"So, you wanna help?" Parmeri said.

"Yeah. Any way I can."

"Why?"

The question seemed to catch Steve off-guard. "Does there need to be a reason?"

"Guess not," said Parmeri. "There just usually is one."

"Well, if you need a reason," Steve said, "I guess I just don't think Elise should be held responsible for Loki's actions."

"What makes you think that when everyone else thinks she's his sidekick?" Parmeri asked.

Steve gestured in Elise's direction. "Look at her," he said. "You think a nice girl like that is gonna hurt anybody?"

"Trust me, buddy," Parmeri laughed, "she isn't that nice. Kid's a shark."

"Yeah," Elise agreed, "I wouldn't call myself a 'nice girl.'"

"Look," said Steve, "Loki likes to be in control. The easiest way for him to do that is to go after someone who can't defend herself."

Parmeri seemed skeptical. "You think he knew what he was doin', then?"

"All I'm saying is that he knows how to manipulate people," Steve said. "I think what he did to Elise... well, he doesn't like being outsmarted, so he-"

"Stop," Elise interrupted loudly. "Can we not rehash that?"

"Sorry," Steve said. "But do you see what I'm saying, Skip?"

"You're sayin' I should sacrifice one of my clients to make the other one look innocent," Parmeri replied. "I can't do that, Cap. Vigorous representation, and all that."

"If Loki walks away from this, it won't end there," the Captain said. "You don't know who you're dealing with."

Parmeri got to his feet. "I know exactly who I'm dealin' with, and he's entitled to representation."

"No," Steve said, "I don't think you do." When Steve stood up, he towered over the stubby attorney. "I've seen first-hand what kind of damage he can do, and I've seen what he did to Elise."

"I'm not gonna argue about this in my own house!"

"Isn't it your job to argue?"

"Not with people who don't know that law!"

They went back and forth that way until Elise interrupted. "Hey!"

"What?" the two men responded in unison, turning their heads in sync with each other.

"I'm here," Elise said. "You don't have to talk about me like I'm not."

They were quiet for a moment. Parmeri sighed and sat back down on the couch. Steve remained standing.

"Here's what we're gonna do," Parmeri said. "It's too late to have you subpoenaed. Judge burned that bridge to the ground when he gave us two days for motions..."

"We've got cross," Elise reminded him.

"Yeah, but Mercure's gonna be trying to get stuff about Loki's first set of charges outta Steve." Parmeri rubbed his temples. "Steve – can I call ya Steve? - I need you to make the questions about 'Lise, if ya can."

"How?" Steve asked.

"If Mercure prepared ya, tried to cut away the fat from your testimony, throw that right out the window," Parmeri advised. "If she asks you to point out Loki, you point out Loki, and then you point out Elise."

Steve looked perplexed. "Why? Won't that sound kind of strange?"

"Well, don't make it obvious," Parmeri urged. "All we're tryin' to do is broaden the scope for cross. If you can get Mercure to ask about 'Lise, that means I can ask about 'Lise. Get it?"

"Isn't that kind of unethical?" Elise questioned. "You're kind of coaching him."

"You wanna go to jail or not?" Parmeri retorted.

It was a valid point. Elise backed down.

"Anyway," Parmeri continued, "once you do that, it'll open the door to questions about how you met 'Lise." He paused. "What're ya gonna say about that?"

"Well," Steve said, "Stark was on the computer, and he could see the Tesseract doing something at Elise's apartment, so we went over there."

"B and E?" Parmeri asked.

"I didn't catch that."

"Did you break into the apartment?"

Steve seemed nervous. "Yeah, I guess we did, but we didn't-"

"Plead the Fifth if Mercure asks how you got in," Parmeri said. "If your testimony doesn't go her way, she might try to discredit ya."

"Sorry," said Steve, "I don't know what you mean."

"Fifth Amendment? You know what that is?"

Steve shook his head.

"Captain America doesn't know what the Constitution says..." Parmeri sighed. "You have the right not to incriminate yourself. You don't gotta answer if she tries to get you to say somethin' that might imply, y'know, criminal activity."

"Oh. Thanks," said Steve.

"You scratch my back, I scratch yours," Parmeri replied before moving on. "So, you got in, and what?"

Elise caught Steve looking at her for answers. She shrugged; she couldn't remember what happened then, only that he had been there.

"I saw her lying on the sofa," said Steve. "She was out cold. I kept saying, 'wake up, wake up,' but she was just..."

"Unconscious," Elise mumbled.

Steve nodded. "Yeah. Stark called the ambulance, and I rode along."

Parmeri rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Here's how this helps us, Steve, and I need ya to go along with this, alright?"

"Sure."

"We're gonna establish that Loki didn't have the mental capacity to understand his own actions. That's the insanity defense. And it's a stretch, but we're gonna use that to explain what happened to 'Lise. Anything she did, she did under duress."

"I didn't do anything," Elise protested quietly.

"Anyway," Parmeri went on, shooting an ugly look in her direction, "what I need from you, Steve, is to testify to the threat Loki posed in that mental state. Show the jury that 'Lise reacted reasonably to that threat, that she was a victim here. Sound good?"

Steve hesitated for a few moments. "If that's what it takes," he finally said.

"Steve, I have a question," Elise interjected.

"Sure," he said. "What?"

"Why do you care what happens to me?"

He shrugged. "Some folks still care about what's fair."

Elise didn't find his explanation suspect. She smiled slightly as she said, "Thanks."

"You wanna go over some questions?" Parmeri asked Steve. "Make sure you got everything?"

Steve stood and started walking slowly toward the exit. "I think I can handle it." As he turned the doorknob, he turned his head and said, "Stay out of trouble, alright?"

Elise nodded, and he was gone.

"Nice guy," Parmeri commented almost as soon as the door closed. "Little self-righteous."

"Do you think his testimony will help?" Elise asked.

"Couldn't tell ya," Parmeri said. "We'll just have to wait 'n' see."