For the first time since she arrived at the prison, Elise saw it from outside its gates. However, she could not enjoy her time away with her body racked with pain the way it was. Her gut was tangled into an impossible knot; an immense pressure weighed on her hips; searing jolts of whtie-hot agony radiated through her thighs and knees and down to her toes. Her head even threatened to fail her as the intensity of the physical sensation begged her to shut her eyes and fall backward onto the stretcher on which she lay.

"I'm gonna die," she panted, incoherent in her suffering.

No one in the ambulance denied it, but one said, "Just hang in there, okay? Stay with us."

Until that point in time, Elise had had no reason to believe that her pregnancy would become "complicated." She had done everything she possibly could have to ensure the safety and health of her first child, though the options available to her as an inmate were quite limited. She wondered where she had gone wrong, what she had done to put her newborn's life and her own at risk.

Her consciousness waned as they burst through the doors of the emergency room, but she still understood the more important points of the conversation being had around her.

"Fever... C-section... yes, now... bleeding..."

At the mention of blood, Elise instinctively lifted her head and looked down to find that the lap of her khaki jumpsuit was stained red. She had already been panicking, but now, the fear overwhelmed her senses, numbing her pain momentarily before another terrible pang rushed through her abdomen. Just as she was about to cry out, a plastic mask descended over her mouth and nose.

"Breathe deeply and relax," someone said.

She awoke, groggy and confused, to find herself alone in a room with only a young nurse and a corrections officer to keep her company. She bent her arms and legs and discovered that she was in no way restrained.

"She's awake," the nurse muttered frantically before she sprang from her chair and dashed out of the room.

Elise looked to the corrections officer for an explanation, and he said, "You had us worried."

"What?" Elise groaned. "What happened?"

The officer shrugged. "You'd have to ask the doctor. One minute you're on the floor of your cell, all curled-up, and next thing you know... well, it's over."

Elise laid her hands on her belly, searching herself for the bump that had been with her for twenty-nine weeks, but it was no loner there. "Oh, god," she gasped. "He isn't... I didn't..."

"Oh, no, no," the officer backpedaled, holding his hands out in front of him. "I didn't mean it's over over. I just meant that you, you know... delivered."

Elise breathed a deep, cleansing sigh, but her worries weren't yet over. "Is he okay?"

"Why wouldn't he be?"

"This wasn't supposed to happen now," she explained. "He's premature..."

The officer just shrugged again. "I don't know what to tell ya. You're gonna have to wait for the doctor."

They waited in silence for several minutes. The officer scratched away at his notepad with his pencil; surely, he'd have to submit a report of the "incident" later.

Elise looked to the door. "Maybe I should go get someone," she suggested. "Maybe they forgot I'm here."

"Don't even think about it," the officer said without looking up from his notes. "I don't wanna have to cuff you to that bed."

"Can you go get someone for me, then?"

The officer sighed and flipped his notepad shut. "You know I can't leave you alone in here."

"Why not?" Elise complained. "You can handcuff me, if you want. I won't go anywhere."

"It's not just about protocol," the officer said. "You just had some pretty major surgery, and I don't need an offender bleeding out while I'm on the clock."

Elise smiled. "You've known me for what, seven months, and I'm still just 'an offender?'"

"You know I didn't mean it like that," the officer snorted.

"And it was just a C-section, right? Nothing that major."

The officer sighed. "Well, it's like I said: we weren't sure you were gonna wake up."

Elise leaned back, letting her head rest on the thin pillow behind her. The site of the incision was sore, but it was a satisfying pain, and weak in comparison to what she had felt while she lay on the cold, hard floor of her cell. She calmed down to the extent that she could, but still, she worried about her baby, and wondered why no one had come into her room bearing news, good or bad.

Finally, the nurse returned, carrying a blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms. She was followed by the doctor, and he was followed by one person more.

"Hill?" Elise gasped. "You've got a lot of nerve-"

"Hold on," Agent Hill said. "Ask about your son first. We'll have plenty of time to talk later."

"It's a boy?" said Elise, turning to the doctor. "Is he okay?"

The doctor hesitated. He looked Elise up and down. The look on his face alone made him seem judgmental and callous. "The short answer is yes," he finally said. "And that's surprising, considering how early he came." Again, he looked her over as he readied his clipboard and clicked his pen. "You don't know who the father is, do you?"

The implication, coupled with the unexpected arrival of Agent Hill, stirred Elise to anger. "Of course I know who the father is," she hissed. "You don't watch the news, do you?"

"Do you know his last name?" the doctor asked, obviously still skeptical. "I need it for the birth certificate."

Elise froze – she didn't know how to proceed. She had expected to have another month to plan for this eventuality. "Can I... see my baby first?"

"Just give her the baby," the doctor commanded flippantly.

"Oh, right," replied the anxious nurse as she placed the little bundle on Elise's chest. "Sorry."

Elise pushed aside one of the blanket folds to reveal her son's face. He was more than just alive – he was beautiful. He was silent, squirming, but not crying, not even whimpering. Though he resembled his father in every way, even in his first few hours of life, with lily-white skin and a thin crop of black hair, Elise found herself positively in love. He may have looked like Loki, but she knew he would never be anything like him.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the newborn raised one tiny hand and yanked Elise's hair.

"Ow!" she squealed. "Oh, ow, stop that!"

When the child relented, there was a ripping sound, and Elise felt a tearing in her scalp. She looked down to see a clump of her hair wrapped in the baby's tiny fist.

"He gets that from his dad," Elise sighed. She was joking, but no one laughed.

"That's what the doctor needs to talk to you about," said Agent Hill. "Right, doctor?"

"Yes," the doctor said. "Although your son is... abnormally healthy for an infant born at twenty-nine weeks gestation, there are a few concerns."

"Does he need to be in an incubator or something?" Elise asked.

"That's the problem," the doctor grumbled. "At first, we suspected heart and lung defects. His skin was almost entirely blue – not just a bluish tint. We also suspected that he was blind – there appeared to be blood pooling in his eyes. But both of those things cleared up quickly, before we even placed him in the incubator. And once we did that... well, he didn't like that very much."

"Tell her what happened," Agent Hill pushed. "She should hear this."

The doctor rolled his eyes and sighed. "He's been breathing on his own, and he didn't seem to need all the treatment NICU has to offer, but we did place him in one of our incubators to monitor his blood pressure, oxygen levels, and heart function. These incubators are heated, and he seemed to... take issue with that."

"What did he do?" asked Elise.

"He suddenly became very... active," the doctor said. Every one of his words came with an air of admonishment. "Never would I have expected an infant to be capable of this. He cracked the incubator walls by bashing his fists against them, but luckily, he wasn't injured. We moved him from the machine onto a warmer, but he didn't like that either. He reacted like it was burning him. We moved him again, away from any heat source, and then he... well, you see what he's like now. Just fine. Certainly not normal, but fine."

Elise hugged her son closer to her chest. "What does that mean?"

"It means he's going to have to come with me," Agent Hill answered.

"Hell no!" Elise growled. "Foster care is bad enough! There's no way I'm gonna let you take your vendetta out on my son!"

"Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?" Agent Hill asked the doctor.

"We have a few things to take care of first," said the doctor. "First, the birth certificate. What's the father's name?"

Agent Hill was the first to answer. "The father's name won't appear on any of his records. Make sure of that." She turned to Elise. "Did you have a name in mind?"

"Yeah," Elise replied. "Julian Nicholas. My grandpa's name and my brother's name."

"Julian Nicholas what?" Hill asked.

"What do you mean, 'Julian Nicholas what?' Julian Nicholas Milton."

"You don't understand," said Agent Hill, shaking her head. "He can't have your last name. You can't even have your last name."

The doctor sighed again. "I really don't have time for this," he said. "What am I writing down?"

"Leave the last name blank," Hill instructed. "We'll get back to you."

"Fine," said the doctor, tucking his pen back into his pocket. "I'll be back in twenty minutes."

The doctor turned and walked out the door. The nurse rushed to follow him, but before she was gone, she turned to bestow a hesitant "Congratulations" on the new mother.

Only Elise, Agent Hill, and the very confused corrections officer remained.

"This is all highly confidential," Hill advised the officer.

"I understand," he said. "My lips are sealed."

"Elise," said Agent Hill, "Loki isn't secure."

"What do you mean he's 'not secure?'" Elise exclaimed.

"He hasn't been secure," Hill replied. "He's just been on his best behavior. We've been monitoring him – there's a mole in the psychiatric facility. He's been disturbingly compliant."

"Isn't that the whole point?" the corrections officer asked.

Elise and Agent Hill replied in unison: "No!"

The officer threw up his hands defensively. "Alright, alright. I'll be quiet. Jeez..."

"So, what?" Elise asked. "You think he's going to come after Julian?"

"He's not going to find out about Julian," Hill explained. "Right now, he thinks he's getting away with his little ruse. What he doesn't know is that civil commitment isn't easy to talk your way out of. That buys us a little time."

Elise still didn't understand. "Time to do what?"

"Here's how this will go," said Hill, pulling up a chair at Elise's bedside. "Julian's coming with me."

"No," said Elise, insistent. "He's not going anywhere with you."

"This is non-negotiable," said Agent Hill. "But he'll be safe. It's just that he can help us learn about the extent of Loki's power. If he has at least half of that-"

"You need my permission to do that," Elise interrupted. "You can't do anything to him without my permission."

"Actually, we can," Agent Hill replied. "We aren't the United Nations, we're S.H.I.E.L.D. But if you sign off on this, it would make it a whole lot easier."

"What exactly am I signing off on?"

"We'll keep Julian for the first year, and then he'll be placed with a foster family," Hill explained. "He won't even remember he was with us, and he won't know he's... special."

Elise wasn't yet convinced. "And what happens to me?"

"If you cooperate," said Hill, "we'll make sure you get your name change and a transfer."

"A transfer to where?"

"I was thinking somewhere minimum-security. A state facility, maybe one with a library. And I'll make sure you'll get to see your son, too, once he's old enough to visit."

"And you're not going to do anything that would hurt him?"

"We won't harm a hair on his head," said Hill. "That's a promise. It's safer for you, it's safer for him, and it's safer for the public. Trust me."

Elise looked at her son. She knew that Agent Hill was right, and she was willing to do anything to keep Julian out of Loki's hands. He was exactly what Loki had wanted, and that frightened her. "Alright," she sighed. "How long do I have?"

"We're taking her back tomorrow," the corrections officer told Agent Hill.

"Then I guess that's your answer," said Hill as she stood and started toward the door. "I'll let you be alone now."

Elise kissed Julian's head several times. His skin was freezing cold, and there were still traces of blue in his tiny fingers, but she knew that was normal, and she loved him. Crying would have been appropriate, she thought - everyone likely expected that she would mourn the time she was going to lose with Julian - but she couldn't do that yet. Not around him. Just as her mother had always done for her, she would be brave. She would never let on that something wasn't right, not even if the world were crumbling all around her, and her son would never know fear, because she would stand between him and the horrors of the world.

"I'll find a way," she breathed, swaying gently in the hospital bed with her cheek pressed to Julian's little head. "I'll protect you. I love you."