He had initially thought to keep the darker details of Darcy's abuse from Jane.

It was instinctive to want to protect the one so dear to him, and there would be no benefit of her knowing. She took so much on herself as it was, but she could not undo what had been done to her friend. He was still reeling from Agent Sitwell's information, especially after Natasha's suggestion. How much worse would it be for Jane?

She came to him, still in the hallway. Her wayward glanced said she was looking for the other two figures who had stood outside of Darcy's room with him. When she did not see them, she turned worried eyes on him and crossed her arms in front of her casually.

"Is everything ok?"

It was too deceptive to pretend otherwise, and Thor shook his head, "The agent, Sitwell, shared with me the information regarding Darcy's captivity." Jane's face shifted into something more focused. The lines around her eyes deepened, and Thor sighed.

"She is… malnourished, and has a lung sickness… But the healers believe, as does Agent Sitwell, that she will make a full recovery." He finished his words with a small smile, too humble to be anything but hopeful. Jane shifted a half step away from him, eyes narrowing as she began to shake her head.

With a soft sigh she added, "That doesn't explain the bruising on her… everything. What else was there?"

He shook his head, turning his gaze to the young woman in the bed. It would do no good for her to know. It was enough to know that she had been damaged. So he thought until his love took a hold of his chin and gently pulled his gaze back to her. The pain in her face had been replaced with a calmer, more assured affection. She released her hold to cup the side of his face. "Thor, you and I share a special connection that I've never felt with anyone, and I… I know what you're trying to do right now, but please don't. I don't need protection from the truth." She lowered her hand until he caught it in his own and kissed her knuckles. He took her other hand and did the same, watching a tender expression transform her face into something honest and beautiful. Her eyes did not falter from his.

"Jane, I do not think it would be wise to divulge these details," he murmured. She squeezed the fingers holding hers.

"Thor. Tell me." And that, as they said on Midgard, was that.

He did not have any more to share beyond what Sitwell had given him, but it was enough. There was no need to embellish. Vexed as he was by Jane's insistence he did not want to punish her for it, but neither did he dishonor her by sparing details. Darcy's pneumonia, news in itself, was caused by a form of water torture. She had been starved at periods during her captivity, and while she had not suffered broken bones, she had been subjected to beatings.

The words came from his mouth tonelessly. Jane's fingers in his tightened with every sentence. He could see her understanding in her shoulders, in the slackness of her mouth, but where he had teared over the explanation, her eyes remained dry. She gave his hands another squeeze and then released them altogether to look into the room again.

"Natasha Romanov has suggested that Darcy be put under watch."

"For?" she asked quietly, staring at her former assistant.

"It is her belief," he said with the same tone and volume, "that Darcy might try to harm herself when she awakens." Without turning to him, Jane's shoulders sank. She exhaled a great breath, and then swallowed and shook her head.

"Let's wait, OK? We'll see how she acts when she wakes, but I don't want to crowd her too much when she comes around."

Thor nodded and looped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. She pulled a hand into his shirt, fisting the cloth there as they continued to watch Erik reading to the prone young woman.

It was always a weird experience to wake in an entirely unrecognizable place. The first time it had happened was after a black out during sophomore year in college. She had gotten too cocky with a group of friends and a quart of Maker's Mark after winter finals and had woken up in a Waffle House bathroom. The men's, because she tended not to half-ass things (hell, cross-country physics' science credits).

The last time she had woken in a strange place it had been in the process of being carried into a cell, in which she had spent what felt like months. That, she had to admit, was also not a half-assed occurrence though she had little to do with the planning or the execution.

Presently she was waking up to a softly lit room walled on one side by stars. A few blinks cleared her eyes and revealed a more urban than celestial sprawl. She instinctively looked side to side for her glasses and found them. With them, she realized not only was the city to her left more metropolis than even urban, but she was not alone in the room.

Erik was drooped in a chair at the foot of her bed, his own feet claiming the end. He was sleeping, despite the uncomfortable set of his body and neck, but his face looked tired, and she did not immediately wake him. There was a television at the far wall of the room, playing muted news coverage. To her right was ostensibly a wall, though it was made of a series of floor-to-ceiling glass panes that made her feet at once liberated and exposed. Through the glass she could see another room similar to the one she was in, though with no occupant.

She took a few deep breaths and then glanced out toward the city again, catching sight of an IV in her arm. Eyes growing, she followed its line up to a double bagging of clear fluids. There was no pain, though, and she calmed as she spied around the room for other new things.

Her plant, the plant from her apartment, was sitting on the same table that had held her glasses. It looked much healthier than it ever had under her care. Someone had given it a booster shot of veggie juice, or something. She smiled as she reached out and touched a thin, papery leaf. It bent beneath the touch, and sprang back when she removed her finger, supple and luscious. Just behind it were two large flower arrangements, one a traditional spread, and one thinner but taller. She stared at the vibrant colors of each, but could not reach the cards attached to their stems.

There was a rolling table between her and the outer windows, which was housing a number of books. Anna Karenina, some scientific journals that she ignored, and even two novels from the Harry Potter series. She smiled her approval.

She looked to the skyline again, but before she could give it her full attention, a more urgent memory took hold. Her glanced around, and behind her but could not see the spoon anywhere. There was nothing metal at all that she could see, actually. Her fingers pressed over the layers of thin blankets fruitlessly. Just when she was about to wake Erik, she chanced a grope beneath her pillow. Her middle finger found the hard, coiled metal, and she deflated. With a sigh, she wrapped her fingers around it, looping her thumb into the too-big grip.

She grinned, comforted, and finally looked out to the city, golden, blue and orange lights sprinkling the landscape like static fireworks. In the not-too-far distance was a body of water that stretched on endlessly with inky broken reflections on its surface, and there plugged in the water was the beautiful, green Statue of Liberty, lit with upturned white lights. Eyes widening again, she eased back into the bed clothes and glanced up at the television, then back to the statue. It was still there.

"Hot damn," she murmured to herself. Despite all her intentions in undergrad, she had never made it to the city, but from this view it was every bit as beautiful as her classmates had described.

Erik shifted, blinking sleepily. He uncurled his arms as he began to sit up, wincing at the inevitable crick in his neck. His eyes turned to Darcy and he blinked again.

"Hey," she greeted softly. He blinked again, sitting up straighter, and while she waited for him to speak she gave him a slow, lazy smile. It felt good in her cheeks and lips.

He jumped to his feet, forcing the chair back, and headed for the door. Before she could call for him to return, he disappeared out of her line of sight beyond the glass. She frowned, wondering what she had done wrong, wondering if he had suddenly been overwhelmed with the urge to pee. Some people did that in the middle of the night. What time was it, anyway? She glanced around, unable to find her cell, and finally looked to the news programming just as it slipped to commercial.

With a frustrated sigh she reached for the bed controls to elevate herself to sitting. As the mattress settled into a properly angled position, Jane appeared just on the other side of the glass wall. She looked rumpled, hastily assembled, but wide awake. At the sight of her, Darcy grinned, her heart beating faster. Close behind her were Erik and- Thor?

"Darcy!" Jane nearly shouted as she rounded through the open door. It was clear she was trying for restraint and failing. "Oh my God, Darcy!" she cried and climbed onto the twin-sized bed without hesitation. Darcy was ready for her, opening her arms wide. For a moment it felt as though things were happy and good. She was grinning. She had not seen any of the three in months! Yet the minute Jane embraced her, the memories and the why- why she was in this bed, and why Jane was so emotional, returned to her.

Her face fell and she buried her expression against her friend's neck and hair, holding tightly to her. Other hands were touching her, Erik at her shoulder and Thor at her crown, but she did not pull away.

"We've got you, Darcy. You're safe," Jane assured her, and if the hugging and touching had not been about to undo her, the reassurances did.

She felt the tightening in her chest and the heat in her face. Then came the sting in her eyes, but Jane only held her tighter. As they both began to shake, Erik and Thor both sat on opposite sides of the bed and embraced the young women. Just as it was becoming hot and stuffy, the bed groaned ominously, and she allowed a need eruption of laughter, just the other side of sadness, that had been wanting to break out.

"Hell, I think we're about to break this thing," she said through her clogged nose and mouth. Jane laughed brilliantly, beautifully, and smoothed some of the stray hairs out of Darcy's face and up to her forehead where they stayed stuck. The others laughed, too, even Erik, before separating.

Darcy grinned back at her, removed her glasses long enough to wipe them down and then settled them back on her nose. Her hand followed the course Jane's had, still smiling, but as she touched the crown of her head and then the nape of her neck, her smile faltered. It vanished altogether when she tried to run her fingers through the normally cooperative fibers of her hair. It had been fastened at the back of her head, but otherwise felt like she had tried to start dreads. Had tried and given up half-way through making proper rows so that her hair was just a rat nest of oblivion.

"Well, shit," she groused in alarm. She turned her eyes back to Jane who was smiling supportively. Erik offered her a tissue from a box that she noticed remained in arm's reach even after he set it down. After taking a moment to clean her face she released a long, controlled breath. Then she grinned up at Thor and said, "Welcome back, hombre. How long have you been in town?"

The faces watching her all flattened, Thor frowned, and Darcy slowly remembered. She remembered his booming voice, the way it calmed after, and the presence he had emanated. Before he could answer her, she gasped and shook her head, saying, "No, no, I remember. You were there. You were there, and- where was there?" She took another deep breath, feeling her eyes begin to water again. She shook her head, dabbing beneath her glasses with the tissue.

Jane placed a hand on her knee and Darcy shook her head once more, "It's cool. I'm good. I just- give me a minute." And they did. Thor chanced taking a seat on the bed opposite and just behind Jane while Erik resumed his seat in the chair, drawing it a bit closer to them.

When her heart had settled once more, she ran her fingers over the needles currently buried at her elbow and took a deep breath. "All right, feel free to take your time, but what happened? What really happened? I mean, I've got these thoughts in my head, some pictures and memories, but it's all kind of jumbled right now." Her fingers clutched tighter at the spoon, feeling the warm metal edge resist her skin.

The three glanced between one another, and Darcy watched the byplay of emotions on their faces. Jane was, surprisingly, the most hesitant. She had figured Erik would assume that role. He seemed more neutral of the three. It was Thor who spoke.

"I had returned to Midgard, now verging on two weeks ago, and expressed my wish to Jane and Erik to see you- I believe I vouched I would not leave again until I had done so," he grinned sideways at Jane briefly. Darcy grinned at the idea that someone like Thor- a prince, an alien, a whatever, would come to see her. In the wake of that thought came the realization that Jane and Erik had looked for her, but only after Thor had returned. Her grin faded to a half-smile. She sought out Jane's severe grimace, Erik's more reserved frown.

"When we three departed from New York City to find you, we were arrested with great confusion at your disappearance. Neither your cottage neighbors nor Culver University had any signs of your recent presence." The frown on his face showed his worry, and Darcy shrugged her shoulders blamelessly, deceptively apathetic.

"We were able to trace a number of Midgardian communication device's information silos-"

"CCTVs," Erik interjected.

"-to review your… abduction." The word was stilted, but Darcy nodded firmly, her face unaffected as she listened. Half-wincing, he continued to explain how they traced a number of other sources, travel records for the state of Virginia, cell phone usage and the like, until they had pinpointed her departure. Based on the type of plane she had been sneaked into, there were only a few places she could have been taken. Based on her own identity, only a few of SHIELD's enemies could have taken her.

She glanced to Erik and Jane, neither of whom interrupted Thor's monologue on how she had been found. Why had they not contacted her sooner? The question rose to her throat, danced on her tongue, but did not cross her lips. She pushed the words back down, even though the resentment attached to them lingered. Sometime in the future she would need an answer to that question.

He finished, and Darcy nodded, "Okay, got it. That definitely fills in some of the gaps." She briefly wondered if there was some kind of surcharge for being rescued from an international terrorist group by another, superiorly bad ass NGO.

"Is, uh- Hmmm." She paused, at the implications of what she wanted to ask, but when Jane gave her knee a gentle squeeze, she found the strength to continue. "Does someone need to hear my side of things?"

"Director Fury," Thor answered softly while Erik and Jane made themselves comfortable in their seats. Darcy felt a prickle of annoyance. Why was he the only one speaking? Couldn't Erik or Jane take a turn at explaining themselves? Was Thor not letting them? Her eyes widened.

"He expressed an interest in hearing your tale from your own experience," Thor explained, but Darcy was consumed with embarrassment at her reaction, her misplaced mistrust. While Thor continued speaking, she tried to tamp down her aggravation. There was no conspiracy, no hidden agenda or motive.

Jane saw her expression and, misreading it, quickly interjected, "Only if you want to tell it, Darcy. No one is going to force you to do anything."

She blinked in surprise at Jane's quick response. She appreciated the swooping defense, but she would not mind telling it at some point in the future. She made herself smile. It did feel good to be protected.

Then she frowned, "Who is Director Fury?"

Again, the secret eye communication that was not so secret. This time Erik, and by differentiating speakers he shot down her aggravated conspiracy, explained, "Director Fury is the executive director of SHIELD operations."

"Ah," she breathed, blinking at Jane, who looked like she was preparing to swoop again. So, "Maybe tomorrow?" Darcy offered, thinking it definitely did not have to be tonight that she put herself through… whatever wringer this was going to be.

"If you want," Erik agreed, "or not that soon at all."

"Only if you want," Jane affirmed, nodding seriously.

"You've been through a very trying time, Darcy."

She nodded, smiling easily and leaned back into the pillows, crossing her arms over her stomach until the IVed one protested. Grimacing she shook it out slightly and then smiled up at her visitors again. It felt to her like a thin tension had strung itself through the room, attaching invisible strings to each of its occupants.

"So, you're going to be here for a little while until you're healed up enough to not need doctor's supervision. Do you want anything?" Jane offered, and the feeling dispelled itself out of Darcy's shoulders. Without even having to say anything, which was probably good.

Her anxiety was still settled in her chest, like it might lash out again if provoked. She felt strangely delicate, but did not know how to explain her feelings. Her body felt fine. Her mind was working properly, but it felt like her emotions had been rewired and she had yet to figure them out. To avoid speaking her concern, she directed her attention to the question.

"Yeees," she moaned, rolling her eyes to Jane. "I want some cheap, cheap, cheap-assed cup noodles. Like, the kind that are fifteen cents for a cup-"

"-that you eat during finals because all the shops are closed?" Jane finished, standing and preparing to head for the door. There was a familiar, pretty smile lighting her face.

"Chicken flavored, s'il vous plait!" Darcy sang.

Erik coughed and crossed his arms in front of him, "Unfortunately, the doctor has you on a restricted diet until you can handle dense solids. Jello and pudding only, for the time being."

She grimaced, shaking her head in time with his words, "Eff that." Then with a shallow laugh, she said, "I would really, really appreciate some noodles."

Erik stared. "Jello and pudding." Her demeanor slipped into the seriousness that expressed her displeasure, but she withheld a huff.

Turning to Jane, she said flatly, "I want ten different kinds of pudding, then. Not ten cups of pudding, ten different kinds of pudding. No banana. Nothing red. Have I mentioned I hate pudding?" At Thor's openly curious stare she said, "It's like, tasteless pasty goo that's for kids. No jello, though- I have a thing where I can't eat it without chewing it because it makes me choke, and wouldn't that just be ironic."

Three pairs of wide eyes stared at her so quickly that she froze in bed. Jane had paused midway into grabbing her purse. Erik was wrapping a fashionable scarf around his neck. Thor's eyes dropped.

"Guys, it's OK to laugh." They eased, but none followed through with her suggestion. Maybe she wasn't the only one feeling delicate. The thought did nothing for empathy, only made her feel worse.

"We are going to get you the best pudding that New York has," Jane assured her as Thor nodded his agreement. She could not help but grin at their enthusiasm and the cute picture they made. Apparently time apart had not dented whatever spark existed between them, and she was glad to see it.

"Sounds good."

Erik wordlessly settled back into the chair he had been in when she had first woken, and the pair departed to parts unknown. She counted to thirty after they had passed beyond her line of sight. Then she turned to Erik, who was watching her with a smile that faded under her stare.

"Tell me what really happened. Don't leave anything out this time."

The pained expression on his face was almost worth her firm tone, confirmation of her suspicion. It reminded her of Puente Antiguo and the fond exasperation he had turned on her and Jane at times. He should have made the pudding run himself, then, or at least known better than to think she would let it go.

The details he added were not many, but she could tell they were all he knew, and they packed a wallop. SHIELD had put together not just any band of independent agents to secure her return. They had been composed of Iron Man, Thor, some guy calling himself Captain America, a green troll, and two assassin people, who collectively called themselves the Avengers. They had rescued her in less than a day, from Thor's leaving the city to their return with her. She supposed it was cool, but she did not remember any of them, so it kind of lessened the impact.

Apparently she had been sleeping for almost three days, not comatose, just exhausted. She had spoken to the people around her at times, apparently she had been conscious during the rescue, even. She barely remembered any of it. She remembered Thor, and a little bit of snow, but beyond that remembering details was like trying to pinch water.

Less mysteriously cool and more, tree falling in the woods.

"You've also been placed on suicide watch."

Darcy started, turning to him with an expression so surprised that he immediately shrugged. Words would not come to mind to reject the idea, it was so bizarre. It was stupid? It was unnecessary? She could not think of ways to properly express how she felt about that, but the longer she thought about it, she was not even sure what suicide watch would entail.

Finally, she sighed. "That's ridiculous, but whatever. Just leave me the sheets, if you don't mind."

"Not my call, but I'll do what I can." When she turned to scowl at him he was smirking at her, and the tension melted away. She grinned and eased into the bed, reaching for the television remote. "Whatever we can do to make you comfortable, Darcy."

"Ha, except noodles."

"Come off the noodles!"

Thank you to my reviewers: flamingmarsh, alexceasar, necowaffer, miaandB, and AlexaBlack19.

If you like the story or would like to offer criticism, please leave a review :)