A/N: I apologize for the long wait between chapters. This chapter was an absolute pain to write, as I felt like I was running out of steam once I got to it. Not to worry though, I've worked out my writer's block and happily am writing away at Chapter four. Hopefully, I'll be getting it out to my beta before much longer and you can read that once I get through with Chapter five, just to set up a more regular posting schedule. With any luck I'll have a good chunk written already by the time I go back to school in the middle of January. Thank you for your patience. Reviews are love, so please keep them coming. :)

Chapter Three: And Then There Was Loki

Nearly two weeks passed before Steve made any contact with Darcy again. He didn't come down to the lab though. She got to her desk that Thursday morning to find her email application already dinging with unread mail. Funny since she was sure she'd shut it down when she left the night before. Nevertheless, there it was running regardless. Briefly, she glanced up at the ceiling trying to will her gaze to see through the metal walls and to the fiber-optics that connected JARVIS's main AI core to the rest of the building and glared. If her memory was as accurate about last night as she assumed then JARVIS was involved with why her computer was already running. She remembered hearing that the AI could remote activate just about anything in the building.

Dropping her bag, Darcy sat down and opened the first unread message. It was from Jane explaining that she was in a meeting briefing Director Fury and Darcy was to begin transcribing any data acquired over night. Yawn, talk about boring. She glanced at the ridiculous stack of print outs awaiting her attention and went back to her email for the next unread email. It was an alert from Agent Hill that they were expecting a temporary electrical disturbance around two in the afternoon (or fourteen hundred hours as Agent Hill wrote) when Thor would be returning via tesseract.

The third was the surprising email. It was from Steve and had come in at the ridiculous hour of four thirty that morning. She blanched. There was no decent reason that any person should be awake at that hour, no matter how militarized they'd become. Hell she was sure even the Black Widow slept in sometimes.

Double clicking she read the email quickly before rereading it trying to gauge if what she was seeing actually jived with the Captain she'd only ever spoken to once. The tone was polite enough, so that seemed standard, and the wording had a hand full of those funny anachronisms that fell out of use in the intervening seventy years in favor of new slang. For the most part, it seemed entirely above board but she had the niggling doubt in the back of her mind that maybe this was Stark reminding her that she had made a promise to do certain things and she was taking too long to accomplish the first. If that was the case, Stark needed to get over himself because some things just took time. Rushing the Captain to get back in the world hadn't exactly worked out for SHIELD after they pretended it was still the 1940's. If rumors were true, anyway that's basically how it went down. For an organization of crazy paranoid spies, they had an awful habit of talking about everything. Office gossip apparently was not limited to the typical office world; SHIELD was just as bad if not worse in their rumor mill. Darcy thought that had something to do with the fierce competition Fury encouraged all the agents to live by, so that probably had a good deal to do with it.

She closed Steve's email and gave the stack of print outs a withering look as she crossed the room to retrieve them. If nothing else, she might as well get started before Jane came back and gave her one of those stern looks for slacking. All it ever was in this place was work, work, work. It got boring after awhile and she sometimes caught herself wishing for one of Tony and Loki's epic prank wars to break out to alleviate some of the monotony. She groaned she was not going to even entertain the idea of negotiating changing her deal with Stark, three favors that didn't involve potential physical maiming by a mostly crazy demi-god was preferable to whatever Stark wanted initially.

Returning to her desk Darcy turned on her iPod and got to work.

Jane returned nearly an hour later, looking more than a bit peeved and that never bode well for anyone. For the moment, thought Darcy kept working waiting for the inevitable blow out that was coming. Considering Thor was due back today for his bi-weekly update with Fury later, she'd want to get it out sooner rather than later so she'd be in a better mood for later. Heaven forbid Jane's bad mood get in the way of a little nookie.

"I can't believe him," Jane finally stated sitting down roughly at her desk and turning to face Darcy over the stack of papers and notebooks.

Darcy lifted her head slowly, "What'd he do this time?"

It was a regular thing these days. Fury was pushing for results, constantly moving up the timetable. If Darcy didn't know better she'd say that Fury and his hoity toity Shadow Council just wanted to throw their weight around, remind people who was in charge. That sort of thing. Not surprising since more often than not Darcy got the impression that they were just a little too predisposed to bullying behavior. Chewing her lower lip Darcy tapped a few keys and turned her attention fully to Jane.

"Working prototype by the end of next month," Jane muttered her fingers moving angrily across the keyboard to pull up the schematics for the prototype generator she'd begun putting together nearly six months ago when they first tried to force Jane into taking short cuts to move the project forward.

JARVIS took things over once the files were open and projected them so both of them could study the plans for a few moments at scale.

"Guess you're going to have to take advantage of Loki's arrival this afternoon."

Saying so was probably a mistake, judging by the look Jane shot her. She was not happy about Loki coming, even if it meant Thor would be on Earth for a little while. Given that she'd just gotten direct orders to start fabricating that prototype alone meant time with Thor was going to have to take a backseat, and that was likely not sitting well with Jane. As it was, they didn't spend nearly enough time together right now.

"Okay, so you aren't looking forward to that."

"You think. Taking the contract was supposed to mean a steady flow of funding for my work, not this. Not G-men forcing us to work faster than I feel is safe. We don't even know if the prototype and Stark's Arch Reactor are going to mesh to make rolling the project ahead worth the risk. My calculations aren't anywhere near complete enough to warrant this push."

Darcy nodded thankful that for once Jane managed to keep her science nerd in check and used normal people speak to explain what they wanted from her. Jane's tirade brought back partial memories of whispered conversations between Stark and Banner about what SHIELD had been aiming for when they scoffed up Erik for work on some piece of alien technology. They'd been intent on using his work to manufacture weapons or something and that memory sent a shiver down her spine.

"Maybe we should take a break until Thor and Loki get here. You could probably use the time to wind down."

In that moment, the suggestion seemed like the best idea. Jane desperately needed to cool off and Darcy could use the time to think over Steve's email. Something still didn't feel right and Darcy wasn't planning on walking into some sort of prank. She was too smart for that sort of thing.

At first, the lab was entirely quiet once Darcy suggested a break. It only took about ten minutes before Jane was pacing the floor. The woman never was very good at doing nothing. Jane's inability to be idle was sort of amusing sometimes. Just not when coupled with pent up anger aimed at Director Fury. What she would have given for their usual comfortable silence as Jane worked it out on her own.

After an hour of watching Jane ping-pong around the lab, Darcy decided it was time to kill time with Faebook games. Specifically Bejeweled Blitz and Words with Friends. For the most part, it was mind-numbing enough an activity for her to think about Steve's email without screwing up the game too much. Did she take the chance and meet Captain America for coffee or did she stand him up on the off chance that it was a huge prank sent down by Tony. It was one of those things that were hard to judge.

Glancing over at Jane, she opened her mouth to ask for the scientist's opinion, but quickly changed her mind when Jane turned around to start yet another lap. Yeah she could wait until Jane worked her tension out with Thor. Waiting seemed like the safer route than risking physical maiming in that moment.

As if on cue, the lights flickered and both women froze. The computer's flickered at the influx of electricity and for a moment each scrambled to save whatever work they could before the circuit breakers inevitably shut down from being over capacity. After months of Thor's trips being a regular thing no one in the office had worked out just how much extra energy his trip was going to throw into the electrical system. Sometimes it was enough to make the circuit breakers spark, other times it was barely a blip on the radar; hence Agent Hill's monthly email. It kept people from losing valuable data in the labs after learning the hard way just what sort of effect it could have. Thor's first return had set work back by more than a month in some departments.

Both women secured the lab and headed to the elevator, swiping both their badges they rode up to the lobby to wait for Thor and Loki to escape Fury's clutches. The man was nothing if not adamant that any Asgardian visitor's first stop was his office. It was all sort of creepy, Darcy wondered if Thor realized yet, that the policy was in place so Fury could keep track on Asgard as much as he did the foreign governments of Earth. She did give Thor a little credit that he might have some inkling that such was the case, he might be oafish in appearance, but sometimes he said things that surprised even Jane.

"So you were quiet this morning?" Jane murmured nudging Darcy with her shoulder.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of Jane's friendlier side she gave the scientist a weird look. Okay so, she was magically in a better mood thanks to her beloved's arrival. It was like riding a roller coaster sometimes how quickly Jane cycled from rage because the council wanted to rush her to chill because Thor was back in the same galaxy.

"Yeah, I had stuff to think about."

"Any of that stuff have to do with Captain Rogers?"

Darcy shrugged, "Yeah. He sent me an email this morning. Something about going out for coffee to get to know each other better."

She still had reservations about it. No amount of thinking seemed to help change her mind that there was a chance meeting up with Steve was a really bad idea. And Darcy said as much to Jane while they waited. Right now, she could really use some outside perspective. If nothing else Jane could probably reason out the pros and cons to following through with what the email suggested.

"Well doesn't seem like it could hurt you to actually go. If you're really nervous that Tony's pulling a fast one, you can scout the coffee shop out and bail if it doesn't look like Captain Rogers is going to show up."

Darcy was about to reply when the elevator doors opened again. This time Jane practically burst from her seat as she dashed across the lobby. Across the room, Thor was waiting with his arms open and a jovial smile on his face. Sighing Darcy stood and followed her boss at a more sedate pace. She was still a safe distance away when Thor lifted Jane of her feet in a bone crushing hug.

Coming to a stop before the making out couple, Darcy spotted the lanky form of Thor's adopted brother just beyond. He'd barely even let the elevator before Thor and Jane got involved in the intense liplock.

"Come on Frosty, they're going to be at it a while, might as well get some coffee while they get reacquainted."

There was a scaring moment where Darcy realized she actually called Loki Frosty, and said Asgardian sorcerer glared at her so hard that she expected to feel her skin melting off at any moment. Except her skin stayed in place and Loki continued to glare at her just with less ferocity as the making out couple whirled violently so that Jane was pressed up against the wall. In unison, the two raised eyebrows at each other. Someone should really tell them that there was work to be done or to go find an empty room, but it didn't seem like either one was willing in interrupt the couple.

"You mentioned getting some of your mortal swill while they're occupied?" Loki prompted.

"Yeah this way." She answered blinking leading Loki toward another elevator at the back. The cafeteria was in the first sub-basement. She could already see how the dining room was going to react to her entrance. Suffice to say, she was going to be making up a lot of ground in the near future with people. Too late to do anything about it now.

As predicted, the entire dining room went silent when Darcy walked in with a semi-reformed supervillain at her side. A couple of the peons actually dropped silverware from surprise and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks from embarrassment. This was not supposed to be nearly as mortifying as it was. She'd invited him, without thinking or any kind of consideration for just what sort of reputation suicide associating with Loki would be.

Unlike her the stares and silence didn't faze Loki. Sweeping into the room, he chose a table for two at the back of the cafeteria. She shouldn't be surprised, but she was as he left her there the center of everyone's attention as he settled into the chair against the wall. Their gazes met and she could practically hear him laughing at her, how she froze. You told me to come; his expression seemed to say with an extra helping of princely haughtiness.

Rolling her eyes Darcy got in line for her coffee. If his haughty highness was going to expect she wait on him as a servant he had another thing coming. She did not serve others, at least not in the sense Loki expected. She was an equal, not less than. The sooner the jerk figured that out, the better all things would end this visit.

"What can I get you?" A young woman about her age asked pulling Darcy from her thoughts. Blinking in surprise Darcy shook her head to clear all thoughts of her unwilling companion from her mind.

"One dark roast coffee with cream, sugar, and a shot of espresso," She ordered once she found her voice.

"And a cup of tea…please."

Darcy whirled around her coffee sloshing over the rim of the paper cup, scalding her skin as she stared into emerald eyes. What the hell was he doing all the way over here? She swore she saw him sit across the room. However, his form flickered it was so quick that Darcy might not have caught it if her weren't practically invading her personal space. Tilting her had she looked at him and then walked away to the table she knew Loki had claimed. Even if at that moment, it didn't look as if he were there anymore.

She had just settled into the chair when his form practically melted out of thin air across from her. Obviously, he didn't have the title of Trickster God for no reason. She was just taking a sip of her coffee when she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. Her gaze shot to one of the thousands of cameras in the building and chose to ignore it. Tony could kiss her ass.

"You know just melting out of the air like that is going to get you shot by at least fifteen different people not including any of the internal defenses." She said putting her coffee down and spin it between her hands in an effort to ignore the eyes that were impossibly more focused on them than five minutes before. Leave it to her to get herself into one of the most awkward moments in the history of SHIELD.

Loki gave her a disbelieving look. He seemed way too nonchalant about that sort of thing. Almost as if he doubted that anyone could do any harm to him at all, which was funny because Darcy remembered a story about Hulk swinging him around like a rag-doll after Tony had seven too many drinks and felt like bragging. Whatever if he wanted to play the stony silence card, she could deal with it.

Her cell phone buzzed again and she could swear it echoed through the cafeteria.

"You mortals have such inferior beverages," he muttered his face twisting into a scowl after several long moments of silence.

His comment was so unexpected that she looked up sharply. If she didn't know any better this was the most he'd said since his last visit to Midgard six months ago. And that time had really only included a few taunting remarks to Tony after hand Jane a sheaf of papers toward her research which she then proceeded to drag Darcy away to help analyze and sort.

The air flickered and a goblet of a more suitable beverage for a Prince of Asgard appeared before them. And maybe she was imagining things but he looked almost tired by that little trick as he picked it up. It was almost as if he wasn't sure it would be entirely solid as opposed to an illusion.

"I thought your magic was bound or whatever?" She asked watching him take a long drink. His adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

Her question however was the wrong one as his expression twisted into barely covered anger as he put the golden goblet down once more.

"I am limited not bound, mortal. A simple transfiguration spell is easy enough to accomplish when shifting your substandard tea into Asgardian mead."

She could feel a tension rise in the room. Those staring eyes going from horrified to on alert with the shift in ambience. Darcy didn't dare shift her gaze from Loki, but she didn't need to see the other SHIELD agents to know many of them already had their hands on their side arms. Too many of them were all too willing to put a bullet or clip of bullets into Loki as it was. Even Director Fury's order to leave him to Thor barely restrained them, which was saying a lot for how much hate Loki had garnered. SHIELD was a scarily well-oiled machine with enough discipline that it could put the United States Marine Corps to shame. Sure the organization had it's bad eggs (Shadow Council for starters). But that was going to happen in any organization no matter how well run or disciplined.

Her cell phone vibrated a third time.

"Perhaps you should answer that human, someone seems very intent on contacting you," Loki prompted his eyes dancing in amusement and Darcy could only flush as she fished her cell phone out of her pocket to read the three new text messages.

i2:15PM: Still a no about the whole Loki part of the offer?/i
i2:18PM: Come on Darce. Dealing with Loki would mean you'd be done faster./i
i2:23PM: You're no good to me dead, I'd suggest steering clear of talk about magic./i

Darcy rolled her eyes at her phone and tapped out a quick message of her own.

i2:25PM: I'll deal with Captain Rogers thanks. At least I'll get to stay in one piece regardless./i

She put the phone down once the message sent notification flashed across the screen and returned her attention to Loki's grinning façade. He must have an idea of something going on or at the very least, that he was the topic of the three messages.

"Director Fury telling you to get out I presume." He sounded almost bored.

She shook her head only for her cell phone to vibrate a few inches across the table. A glance at the caller id said that this time it was a message from Agent Hill. Apparently, she was being told to do so now.

"I am now. I guess letting a lowly lab-assistant get murdered by a supposedly reformed super-villain isn't on their to-do list today." She shot back as she stood. With a smartass wave, Darcy sauntered away a rank of soldiers closing ranks as she left the room. In the hallway there were two SHIELD agents waiting for her.

"Miss Lewis, Director Fury would like to speak with you." Commando number one informed her and marched off to the elevator. Commando number two stood motionless waiting for her to file in after his partner.

Oops, apparently leading Loki off to slip his security detail wasn't exactly something they looked too highly on. Even if all she did was take him to the cafeteria to get coffee.