Disclaimer: Once more with feeling! Me no own, you no sue.

In Which…

Sleeping in subspace was much the same as dreaming. Bea's world began and ended with herself. If she stretched out, there was void, the epitome of nothing. Not space, not empty air, not even a hollow thought, only absolute absence. When thinking of nothing, she'd always envisioned something else that just happened to have nothing inside it. Reality was so much broader. She stretched, filling her impossible home like Alice, yet taking no space at all.

Her timeline was a mess. She'd tried sorting it out several times, but in subspace it made little difference, and eventually she gave it up. It was impossible to tell when one moment began and another ended. She could have a passing thought about work for an hour, or spend a minute expounding on every philosophical question she'd ever posed. For example, "You say the world isn't on the back of turtle, and I agree that we'd notice an ordinary turtle. But what if it's a ninja turtle?" It was difficult to tell how long an ordinary task should take. In part that was because she had not ordinary tasks. She had only herself, and then nothing.

She learned the workings of her own mind very well, and because of her extended isolation, any brief contact she had with Loki as he checked on her was nothing short of dazzling. But even in a blank netherworld, she understood that she must never, ever, under any circumstances let him know that.

She wondered what Tony would seem like after her time alone. Or if Clint would seem chatty. No, some things were simply not possible, no matter how dramatic the isolation.

She squirmed. After this, the air ducts would seem roomy. But also claustrophobic. It was amazing how vast absolute zero was.

The stone in her chest warmed with magic. He was reaching for her.

"Is my princess ready to emerge?"

Smiling to herself, Bea reached back. "I'm ready, dragon."

A/N: And that's it, folks! Thank you again to all of the wonderful reviewers who took the time to offer feedback, and thanks to everyone who favorited or added this story to an alert list or a Community. There have been a lot of questions about a sequel, and the best I can say is: I did leave the door open on purpose, but right now there are a lot of other writing projects that desperately need my attention, and though I'm far from 'tired' of the Avengers, the superheroes and I need a little time apart to recuperate and dream up new plots. I do have some interesting ideas about possible routes a sequel could go, but that will depend a lot on what happens in the Marvel universe. Obviously, I didn't even address Iron Man 3, which had major implications for the series. I'm concerned that Loki may die in Thor 2, and I always feel like I've strayed too far from the story when I begin grossly contradicting the source material. And that's the point of fanfiction, but, I don't know. The most I can say is - we'll see.

Thanks again!