The music was loud and her head was pounding. It had been a terrible idea to go to the club tonight, definitely. She glanced at her non-alcoholic drink and sighed. If someone had told her that she would find herself in a club in the middle of the night, without being drunk, without having drinking a drop of alcohol, she would have laughed in their face. She looked at Jane, at least she seemed to have a great time. It was her birthday tonight, and she had decided to have all her friends, all the Avengers, led by Thor, to come with her. Being an adorable intern / best friend, Darcy couldn't refuse, no matter how sick she felt.

And that's the story of how she found herself drinking iced tea, surrounded by super heros in a hot, stinky club. Most of the Avengers were anonymous but Tony Stark was clearly having a blast.

Men and women were dancing in the dark, sticking in groups of friends, or new couples. She decided to gulp her drink and slithered through the crowd to reach Jane. Drunk or not, sick or not, she was determined to have a good time with her friend.

Thor was spinning the scientist around, and they were both laughing so madly she couldn't help but smile. Next to them Natasha was dancing with a red-faced Bruce and Clint was eyeing them, smirking. Steve was with Bucky, the two granddads were trying to follow the rhythm, surrounded by a horde of crazy girls trying to grope them. They looked so uneasy she found it funny. In the end she decided to save them and walked to them, pushing three girls out of her way and sneaking her hands around their waist, and winking at them playfully. She was reassured when they got the hint and follower her, winking and holding her waist.

When they reached the table Stark had reserved they sighed deeply.

"Thank you Miss Lewis ! You saved us from an uncertain fate tonight." Steve smiled.

"Twenty-first century's girls are so weird and scary." His friend grimaced and Darcy couldn't help but chuckle at such big men terrified by girls eighty years younger than they were. "Let us buy you a drink as a token of our gratitude, please."

"You know me, I never say no to a free drink !" She winked at them. "I'll have another iced-tea, please." He nodded and walked toward the bar.

"How do you feel ?" She could barely hear Steve's voice over the music.

"Still sick. My head's pounding, but I'm having a good time." She searched his eyes. "You ?"

"I'm fine. I didn't really know what to expect tonight, I've never been to a club before. It's not that bad." His smile was more of a grimace and Darcy chuckled.

"Ah, it's nice to know you're not too scared."

Bucky came back, three glasses in his hands and handed one to Darcy with a nod. She took it and drank half the glass in one gulp.

Clint joined them and grabbed Steve by the elbow with something along the line of : This is so funny, you need to see this ! And he dragged him through the dance floor, leaving Darcy and Bucky alone.

Darcy was ready to break the ice (yes, pun intended - it even made her giggle) when two girls almost jumped on James's laps. The poor man looked as if he wanted to be swallowed by the sofa he was on. Her drink in her hand, she sat as close to the man as she could, without touching the woman hovering over him. She sneaked her short arm around his neck and, with her other hand in her back, discreetly grabbed his elbow to place his arm around her. She was so close she could see how red his face was. He was fidgeting uncomfortably. She knew he hated people he didn't know getting into his personal space and those two girls were way too close for his liking.

She leaned forward and whispered in his ear (okay, she spoke loudly in his ear because, otherwise, there wouldn't have been a chance of him hearing anything).

"Just play along, they'll leave you if they see you're with someone. Try not being so tense." He nodded and glanced angrily at the girls before he, too, leaned to line his lips with her ear.

"Thank you, Lewis. I'm definitely at loss with girls like them."

They kept leaning into the other, whispering things the two women couldn't hear and Darcy kept glaring at them with a disgusted pout. It took them at least three minutes to take the hint and leave the man with a roll of their eyes.

Bucky relaxed visibly and Darcy slided back to her original place on the sofa. He thanked her again and left to go get a new well-deserved drink. Darcy grabbed hers and downed it quickly : being this close to a terribly handsome man in this hot club had made her hot and she felt like she deserved her iced-tea.

She set her glass back on the table and searched for her friends. Jane and Thor were still spinning in the middle of the dance floor but Nat and Bruce were not to be seen anywhere. She smirked. Clint and Steve were talking, watching Tony dancing like crazy, surrounded by people. She tried to stand up again, to join the old man and the archer but her head began pounding even more. She clutched the table and slowly made her way to the two men. She bumped into people as much as they bumped into her and she felt more and more dizzy. Gosh, she hated being sick.

She felt like Clint and Steve were getting farther and not closer with every step she took. Suddenly she was jerked backward by a hand on her wrist. She stumbled back into a hard chest and looked up. A handsome young man was smiling at her, but not the kind of smile that was nice, this one was weird, creepy even. He was so close she could see the stains tobacco had left on his teeth. She threw her elbow in his stomach and dive forward. Right into another chest. She sighed annoyingly at herself and looked up, ready to ask the guy to move.

To her relief her eyes met Bucky's. He frowned at her. She gripped his forearm and tugged on it. He leaned and she said :

"I'm not feeling well." She tried to look into his eyes but rising her head so much made her even more nauseous so she closed her eyes tightly. "I think someone put something in my drink." Her voice was barely a whisper but his super-hearing helped him. He grabbed her arm to prevent her from falling against him. The other dude grabbed her other arm to tug her toward him again.

"We were doing something man. Go find your own." He looked annoyed. Bucky frowned. He knew he had heard him correctly but wasn't sure what the man was talking about. Sure he didn't think women were preys did he ? The man pulled again on Darcy arm and she stumbled against him. "Come on man. Let go, find someone else." He was smiling broadly.

"I don't think so." The Soldier groaned, already annoyed. He tightened his hold on Darcy's wrist.

"There are so many drunk girls. Some more beautiful than this one." he pointed her with his chin. "You can let this one to me." He shrugged and Darcy felt annoyed at his words. She knew she should be afraid but she knew Bucky wouldn't leave her there.

"I'm not drunk." Darcy protested weakly. "I didn't drink alcohol tonight." The man looked surprised but quickly concealed it.

"No need to lie you're clearly drunk. You can barely stand on your legs." He tugged her again, to prove his point. Bucky frowned. He remembered she had ordered an iced-tea and not her usual shot of vodka. No, Darcy had not drink alcohol this time.

"Let go of her." The Soldier growled menacingly. "He tightened his hold on her wrist and tugged on it too. He looked into her eyes : "We're going home."

"Oh, you're together ?" The man looked surprised but smiled even more broadly. "Why don't you share it with me ? I mean she's clearly lying about not being drunk, that would teach her not to lie to her man. What do you think ?"

James pulled Darcy, hard, and she crashed against his chest. He swiftly hid her behind him and took a step, menacingly, toward the young man. He grabbed his collar and hovered over him.

"If you ever touch her again, I'll punch you so hard you'll die instantly. And don't think I can't do that." And to show his point he lifted him off of the ground. The man visibly gulped and hold his hands up, in surrender.

"Alright man, you can keep her then. That's fine." He glanced at Darcy for a millisecond and Bucky lifted him higher.

"You're going to immediately leave this place and never drug any other person, or believe me, I'll know and I'll warn the rightful authorities."

The man looked surprised and nodded silently. Bucky dropped him and watched him walk as far away from the Soldier as he could.

Bucky turned to Darcy. he could feel her clutching his shirt to stand upright. He noticed Steve walking toward them and motioned for him to come.

"Lewis ? How do you feel ?" He looked worriedly at her. Her eyes were tightly closed and she was slightly swaying on her feet.

"'M feeling bad, really bad." She whimpered and he put his arm around her waist to help her stand. Steve arrive and looked at them worriedly.

"What happened ?" He was looking at her. His best friend summarized the situation quickly, telling him he was going to take her back home. Steve decided to come with them but went to warn the other first, while Bucky led Darcy out of the club.

Five minutes later they were sitting in a taxi, all three of them crowded in the back. Darcy's head was resting on James's shoulder and Steve was stroking her fingers reassuringly.

She quickly fell asleep, drooling on the soldier. When they arrived they decided not to wake her up. Her system needed to erase the drug she had ingested.

Darcy was very surprised to wake up in her bed, fully clothed, the next morning. Her head was still pounding but she did not feel sick and dizzy anymore.

Flashes of the night before came to her. She didn't remember everything but knew that she would need to thank Bucky for helping her.

She rested her head on her pillow again. She would just sleep a little more, it was early and surely the soldier would still be sleeping.

With that in mind, she fell asleep, thankful for the handsome Bucky's help the night before.