A/N: Busy, busy, busy. But I found time to get this down and out to you guys - I hope it's alright. Sorry for the wait, I really wish I didn't have so much to focus on...

As always, thank you muchos for the reviews and alerts. You're all stars.

In the shadows, he watched. Time ago he had stated that he was weary of scuttling in such shade, but even he could not deny that darkness had its uses. Such as now. Were he human, the sensors would have detected him instantly, but magic won here, and he was cloaked to all. His eyes gleamed, the light of the corridor catching them, and they never wavered from the figure lying still in the bed, her blonde hair spread out upon the pillow. It was night, and she had been left alone, guards standing outside her door.

In case any SHIELD operatives took it upon themselves to exterminate the 'threat'. Loki could not hold back an amused smile at that. Eva was a victim of circumstance, nothing more. She knew nothing of his schemes, nothing of importance. Killing her would achieve nothing, save igniting his icy wrath. She was his. If anyone were to end her life, it would be him, and no other.

Loki walked over to the bed, standing by her resting form. He sat on the edge of the mattress, and his fingers felt her pulse. Strong, defiant, typically her. His fingertips slid down her collarbone to trace her heart. How easy it would be to sink his fingers beneath the skin, through flesh and sinew, and tear out that which beat so boldly. Simple, uncomplicated, and she would be a bother no more.

But he would no longer have a challenge on his hands. No one to converse with, no one fearless enough to argue with him. Was it respect he had for her? Perhaps. Like all other mortals, he had expected her to submit, and submit rapidly. Yet she was a strange one, holding the belief that he would fall and humanity would triumph over him. He had yet to alter her mind, bring her willingly to her knees… but he was in no hurry. Prolonging it would only make victory all the sweeter. He ran his thumb down between her breasts, feeling the join of her ribs. Breakable. So very breakable. All I need do is simply press down, and the bone will crack. Such a pathetic defence mechanism.

He withdrew his hand, and he vanished from the room.

Eva's eyes flew open, and she sat up.

"Loki," she gasped, gazing around almost wildly as her senses screamed; every hair raised up, and her body tingled with warning. He was here. I know it. But… where is 'here'?

She glanced around again, and the clinical setting sent foreboding skittering over her spine. Shit. She looked down, feeling a tug at her skin, and she gave a hiss as she saw the IV piercing it. Needles didn't bother her, but it was the fact that one had been used. She felt like an experiment; it was almost like the Matrix. Except this… this was entirely too real. The unflattering gown, the slight taste in her mouth, of sleep and metal. Cursing, she swung her legs over the side of the bed – and a wave of dizziness hit her.

Right at the same time the memories did.

"The diplomat," she whispered, and her eyes flashed. "Geneva."

The door slid open then, and her head jerked to the sound, her pupils dilating. A figure stood in the doorway as the lights began to flicker on, and her gaze narrowed as tension set her posture.

"You bastard."

Fury came into the room and sat in the chair, his expression unreadable.

"Ms Manning, I would not advise you to start getting angry. You wouldn't have the worst of… reactions, but it won't do you good –"

"He had me on edge for months," she hissed. "I thought I was safe! What happened, Fury? All I was brought in for was a talk with the psychopath – and the next thing I know he's threatening my family! He forced me to move to New York, for god's sake! I had no idea what to do! And you used me as bait." Her voice became icily cold then, and it would have made a lesser man shrink back in apprehension. "Bait, Fury. You knew he wouldn't be able to resist my skills. If you have anything to say, by god it had better be good. Because I am this close to losing it. Dr Banner might be a force to be reckoned with, but he was not the one at Loki's side for a month. He wasn't the one dressed up and fucking told to make nice with the politicians and the celebrities."

From the surveillance room on the bridge, the Avengers watched silently, and Eva's parents sat in horror. Aidan had been kept away – they had guessed Eva's words would be less than clean – and various SHIELD operatives under the watchful eye of Maria Hill were entertaining him. As for the rest of them… Eva's words chilled more than a few, and only Natasha remained impassive. Thor was sickened, and even Stark was quiet, though few could blame him. Pepper still weighed heavy upon the billionaire's mind, and he rarely spoke at all.

Fury fought a sigh, which he knew would only infuriate her further, and he steepled his fingers, elbows resting upon the arms of the chair.

"We underestimated him," he said. Eva scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Oh, you think? He's quite literally an evil genius; did it not occur to you that he might like something or someone to mess around with? No?" She stood up, her countenance still glacial. "I'd appreciate some clothes and food now, if you don't mind. And I hope to high heaven you burned that gold thing. God knows I hated that dress."

Fury's lips twitched, but he nodded, gesturing. "There are clothes in the closet there. Food will be brought to you. When you're ready, we can debrief you. I'd imagine a month without much outside contact must have been pretty damn strange."

Without another word, Fury departed from the room, and Eva sank down onto the bed. She hadn't even comprehended that she was shaking, and it was then that the realisation began to truly dawn upon her.

She was out. Free from her prison, free from him. SHIELD had risked far too much getting her out, and yet… A chuckle fell from her lips, promptly followed by another, and another. It grew into full scale laughter, born out of sheer relief, and she lay back on the bed, hands covering her face as the pent-up emotions tumbled from her, and she sighed, a wide smile gracing her features, the first real, true smile in over a month.

She found herself showering with honest pleasure, knowing that Loki couldn't taint her, couldn't use her as and when he wanted. Memories flashed, of slick tiled walls, warm against her back. His teeth sinking into her flesh, his body lifting her, pinning her, arching up and inside her. Her fingers touched her neck; the last bite-mark was still there, she could feel it. Throbbing, and her cheeks flushed as she realised she had no viable way of hiding it from anyone. Goddamn it.

Minutes later, and she was dressed in a simple t-shirt and jogging bottoms. Not the most stylish outfit – but by god, did it feel good to wear something she could relax in, and in that moment she appreciated it all far more than the jewels and the dresses and the sinful underwear. Couture can go fuck itself, she thought with a satisfied smile. Someone had brought in a tray of food while she was showering, and she poured a glass of water first, relishing the cool liquid running down her throat. The sandwich tasted like manna; she truly had missed simple sustenance, simple things. Loki may have been a prince, and thus used to luxury, but she was only a person out of billions, raised to value the small things and be mindful of money. She had never wanted for much – and relief flickered when she realised her time with Loki had not changed that in the least.

That frightened her then. The idea that Loki could change her. And it was one that she instantly rejected. No. She was her own person, as she had told him countless times. One psychopath did not a willing trophy make.

Slipping her feet into a pair of boots which somehow fit her perfectly – she realised they must have taken her measurements while she slept, and that made her skin crawl – she made her way to the doorway. It slid open with the touch of a button, and she tentatively stepped out, suddenly nervous. SHIELD may have saved her, but she wasn't naïve enough to believe that everyone on this ship pitied or sympathised with her. There were very probably some who wanted nothing more than to see the King's lady dead. She knew there were plenty who thought she was willing, that she enjoyed sharing a king's bed.

If only they knew the truth.

The guards outside her door nodded their heads at her. Not too hostile, she thought, relieved.

"Ms Manning!"

Eva turned – and she smiled as she saw the first truly friendly face in months.

"Hello, Steve."

"Ma'am." He gave her a gentle smile devoid of the suspicion she had expected to see on many agents' faces. "How do you feel?"

"Free," she said, given then to complete honesty. "Utterly free. It's a good feeling."

Steve's eyes warmed, and he gestured. "Shall we?"

"Fury wants to see me, doesn't he?" she spoke dryly. "For 'debriefing'. In other words, extracting whatever information he can from me. He's going to get very little; Loki didn't exactly share his plans for the future of this world. He knew I couldn't be trusted."

"They won't ask you too much," Steve reassured her as they began to walk. "You've been through a lot. I guess they're quite surprised that you were still so defiant. The agent who spoke to you in Geneva certainly was. 'Rather stab him than slip a ring on my finger'. That made it pretty clear." There was a grin in his tone, as if he were proud of her. "You're stronger than they thought."

"Why'd they even bother to get me out?" she asked, silently noting the stares of the other agents, and forcing herself to remain impassive. "I'm only a civilian."

"You had access to Loki. You've been the closest anyone's got to him – and you were with him a month. You know things about him –"

"So does Thor."

"True, but you're not related to Loki. You don't have a personal history that would influence your statements. Thor loves his brother, he will say very little in the way of hate about him."

"Good point. I suppose he still thinks Loki can be redeemed." The cynicism in her tone made Steve's lips twitch, and he sighed.

"Thor is Thor. Single minded and stubborn. A good heart, but he is unchangeable in his faith that Loki will come around."

"Not likely."

Steve said nothing, and they walked in silence for a few seconds before he glanced at her, and his voice was soft.

"It's good to have you back, Eva."

She smiled up at him, and then they paused in step as they reached the bridge. Steve moved forwards to open the door of the conference room, and as it slid in, he gestured once more.

"Ma'am."

"You really don't need to call me that," she laughed softly, and stepped inside, her heart tightening and spine tingling with apprehension.

She froze.

"Ms Manning, good of you to join us."

Eva paid no attention to Fury's words, for her attention was fixed upon the couple that had shot to their feet, the widest of smiles gracing their tired features. Shock ran through her, followed by sheer disbelief and utter joy as her mother and father moved to embrace her.

It hit Eva then, and she started laughing, hugging her parents tightly as her mother began to cry with relief and her father simply held her close.

"I thought he'd taken you," Eva said shakily, swallowing back the lump in her throat. "Both of you. I didn't – I couldn't call you, I couldn't even say where I was going. I'm so, so sorry, I –"

"Don't. It wasn't your fault," her father reassured her with a gentle smile; he always had been the calmer of the two, and though his eyes were shimmering with tears, they did not fall. Her mother was the one who was more easily given to emotion, and this time it was no different. "Are you alright?"

Eva nodded. "I'm as good as I can be." There was more she wanted to say, but upon realising that the Avengers were also in the room, she held her tongue. The less SHIELD knew about her… intimacy with Loki, the better. She might want Loki dead, but she wasn't willing to divulge information that personal.

Her father's eyes scanned her face – and then they alighted upon the bruise upon her throat. His gaze instantly filled with fire, and his voice rippled with suppressed anger as his protective nature kicked in.

"What did he do to you, Eva?"

Eva shook her head, suddenly uncomfortable with the many pairs of eyes set upon her. "Not now, Dad. Please. Not here. I just woke up; I'd rather not talk about this yet."

He opened his mouth to speak – but he was interrupted by a delighted cry, and it was one that Eva recognised very, very well.

"Eva!"

Aidan. Eva spun around, and her little brother rushed like a hurricane into her arms, throwing his own around her as he almost bowled her over in his enthusiasm. Eva's smile was wide, elated as she steadied herself, and she held him tight, pressing kisses to his head and cheeks.

"I missed you, kiddo," she whispered, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat. "I'm so sorry I went away. Think you can forgive me?"

"Yeah," came the candid response. "You can even have my ice cream, if you want."

She laughed, and pressed a final kiss to the top of his head, before straightening, her heart lighter than it had been for weeks. Aidan smiled up at her, almost mischievous in his happiness – and she felt calmer now. That semblance of normality, almost. She had her parents back. She had her brother with her. And Loki was miles from here.

Life had never tasted so sweet.

"Were you really in New York? And then France?" Aidan asked, his eyes aglow with interest. Eva inclined her head, unable to resist a small tilt of her mouth.

"I was. Mostly New York, but I visited France for a little bit. And then back to the Big Apple."

"You stayed in the big skyscraper, right?" he continued, oblivious to the just-as-intrigued audience the two of them had. Eva was well aware that Fury and the Avengers were wondering just how much she would tell the boy, and whether they could use it. Not that she would disclose much, she certainly had no intention of doing so.

"If you mean the Chrysler, then yes," she replied, and added, somewhat amused as the memory of the drive from the airport to the building in question resurfaced in her mind, "not the Empire State."

"Oh. Okay."

Eva ruffled his hair affectionately. "I'll tell you more later, alright? And you can tell me what you've been up to while I was gone."

Aidan nodded. His excitement was fading; he had his sister back, and though he knew things were wrong, he was intelligent enough to realise that neither his sister nor his parents wanted to talk about them. Not in front of the people called 'The Avengers'. He simply hugged Eva once more, beamed, and disappeared back around the corner – presumably to whatever had been distracting him before. Eva watched him go almost wistfully; even throughout this, he still possessed some childlike innocence. How grateful she was that Loki hadn't got his hands on her brother. Heaven only knew what he would have done to the boy.

"Eva?"

She snapped out of her reverie at the sound of her name called by her father, and she turned.

Everyone was watching her, some curiously, some cynically – and Thor looked nothing but guilty. Ashamed.

"Thor, I don't blame you," she said quietly. "There was nothing you could do."

The god looked at her, expression sombre. "I let him win. I failed, Eva. He was my responsibility, and I let him out of my grasp. I am to blame, my lady, I ask that you do not insist otherwise."

She met his gaze gently, and knew instinctively that any persisting would get her nowhere. Instead her lips curved slightly, surprising him a little.

"Alright. I won't insist. On one condition."

His eyebrow cocked.

"Name it."

"Quit calling me 'my lady'."

Thor stared at her, and then the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled.

A/N: Until next time, lovelies. Apologies for the lack of action, but this chapter was kind of needed. Heh.

Lightning xoxo