The next few days at the tower were hard on Natasha. Her mind was a dark place but she put on a show for her team. Darcy on the other hand was with her every step of the way and knew what was going on. Darcy thought she looked better, and she was. Though it hurt like hell, Natasha tried her best to get out of her depressed mood. She couldn't heal as fast as she did when she was Natalia and she wondered why that was happening. Though she still healed more quickly than the average human, it was slower than just a week before. Even though they had shared the same body, their minds were completely different. She, as well as Darcy started to think that the link to accelerated healing was blocked somehow due to trauma.

Natasha was having trouble sleeping. Darcy would hear her cry out multiple times a night and would go to her side to comfort her, but was always pushed away. In a way, it made Darcy happy that the old Natasha was there trying to be strong, but it also made her sad that she wouldn't let her in during those moments. She would hear her cry out for Ksenia and even Loki to her surprise. She would beg Loki to come to her and Darcy went back to hating the god for abandoning her like this. Natasha needed answers and to talk over things and Darcy couldn't provide much help since she wasn't there.

Right before the tower quieted down for the night, Natasha heard a soft knock at her door. She really did not feel like talking tonight, but she promised herself to make an effort. Passing the space from her bed to the door, she opened it to see Tony standing there, alone and looking depressed. He had avoided being with her one on one, always with someone else. He didn't think she would notice how bad the whole event had affected him, but she noticed. She had decided to let him come to her if he needed to talk about anything.

"Hey Tony, you okay?" he looked at her in surprise.

"Me? Oh yea, I'm fine." He then just stared at her, making the whole situation awkward.

Not knowing what to do, she invited him and closed the door behind them. Hearing the knock, Darcy came from her room and plopped onto the foot of Natasha's bed. Natasha went and sat by the headboard and Tony kind of just stood there, not knowing how to bring the conversation up.

Though he had practiced it a million times over in his head, he forgot what he was going to say.

"Nat, I'm so so sorry, but would saying 'sorry' make any difference? Does it ever? It's just a word. One word against a thousand actions and I..." he was rambling, something he told himself not to do.

"Tony stop," Natasha urged him.

"Why? I just don't know how to make things right, I don't know what to say, what to do..." He looked so sad.

"You have already apologized to me, and I'll tell you again, there isn't anything to apologize for. I agreed to go back; I helped you build the machine. Nothing is your fault Tony, I'm fine."

"Then why are you hiding?" Tony did it; he asked the question that had been bugging him since she came back. Something else had to have happened to her to make her eyes seem so empty, to make her walk as if she was carrying a heavy load, and to make her laugh. The old Natasha laughed, but not the way she had since she came back. It was too forced and she didn't have that mischievous grin anymore.

Natasha looked alarmed. "Hiding? I haven't been hiding. What the hell are you talking about Tony?"

It made Tony happy to see some of the fire in her eyes. He loved making her mad, he loved making everyone mad but she always fought back.

"Natasha, talk to me. I want to know what's wrong, I know something else happened." He looked at her worried face and knew that she was indeed hiding something.

"Nothing happened, Tony," she said in denial.

"Yes it did," he countered back.

"How do you know what happened?"

"Reverse psychology, you just admitted that something happened." He was feeling smug.

"I did not, I just..." Before she could finish her sentence, Darcy took this moment to speak.

"Hey red, he's right, he only said he thinks something happened and you basically asked him how he knows what happened so now he knows that something indeed did happen, I think."

She didn't have any time to move as Natasha hurled a pillow at her, knocking her off the bed with a surprised scream.

Natasha and Tony started laughing as Darcy tried to collect herself and brush off the hundreds of feathers that came from the exploded pillow.

"Me and my big mouth," she grumbled as she took her place back on the bed. She then looked at Natasha in her eyes, pleading with her to tell Tony. So many words passed through them with just that glance, but Natasha gave a tiny nod no. Tony didn't see that or the small gesture Natasha made to Darcy for her to leave them alone for a bit.

"Well guys," Darcy sighed, "I'll be leaving you two alone now while I go and de-feather myself. Don't be sucking face while I'm gone!"

Tony looked horrified at her comment, he only saw Natasha as a close friend and it worried him that others could look at them like that. Then he realized this was Darcy speaking, and she was just a smartass. He would never ever leave Pepper. He smiled at the thought of the ring he was going to propose to her with, sitting in a safe in his lab.

When Darcy was back in her room, Tony tried to think of a way to make it up to her.

"Maybe I could build something to take away the memories again? Or maybe dull them down?"

"Tony no, I need them." She hesitated, thinking about letting him know. She looked over to Darcy's room and saw her peeking through the door, trying to encourage her to finally admit it. But she couldn't. She couldn't hurt Tony like that, letting him know that she is now stuck with the tragic memory of her daughter's death.

"Why Nat, why do you need those painful memories?" He asked.

"Because, they remind me that I have true friends in this world. Friends that actually care about me that I can trust." She needed him to know some truth, just not the whole truth.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"When I was in that hospital bed, I wanted to let go, I wanted to die in that moment."

Tony looked horrified.

"No Tony, that same moment I was about to let go, I heard you telling me to come back. Somehow it made me hold on."

"I knew it!" Tony yelled excitedly. "I knew you squeezed my hand back, no one believed me."

"Yea yea, don't get all sappy on me," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Are you really okay Nat?" He looked at her seriously, looking for any trace of a lie.

She smiled and said, "I will be."

Tony decided that she was actually okay, and thought that maybe he was making everything up about seeing her so dead inside. It still bothered him how she asked 'him how did he know'. He felt as though he broke down some of her wall and now he felt a lot better.

"Thanks red, I'll leave you alone now. I hear my bed calling me."

"Goodnight Tony, and thanks."

Tony left feeling like a weight had been lifted off his chest and fell asleep more peaceful.

Later that night as Natasha was fighting sleep once again, she tried calling out for Loki. Like usual, he never showed up. Could he even hear her? Did he care? The darkness started to creep in once more and she felt like dying. She was grasping at something to hang on to so she could pull herself out of the hole. She thought about Ksenia again, and in that moment, she felt peaceful. She needed to know where Ksenia was, to find closure. As she closed her eyes and tried to picture those beautiful violet eyes, a cold hand pressed over her face cutting off her air supply.

Her eyes flew open, trying to adjust to the darkness of her room. She grabbed onto the arm that was holding her down and felt freezing cold metal. Shit, she thought. She kicked the sheets off her body and threw a leg up, catching Bucky on his jaw. His grip loosened and Natasha used that moment to pry it off her face. She kicked her leg up again but this time he caught it and used it to swing her into the wall behind him. She took the impact and blocked out the pain as she shot up and tackled him onto the bed. She wrapped her legs around his midsection and started swinging at his face, hating him for torturing her and for hurting Darcy. She got a few good hits in until he grabbed her wrist and twisted it, making her clench her teeth so she wouldn't cry out and give him the satisfaction. Using his other hand, he struck her in the stomach, making her fall off him and hit the floor. Bucky jumped off the bed and delivered a swift kick to her ribs before taking her by the throat and pinning her to the wall. She felt his grip tighten and could already feel the bruises start to form. Jabbing her knee up, she caught him in the abdomen and he dropped her to the floor. She landed with a loud thud but being at the perfect height, she hit him hard in the knee, feeling it pop backwards. As he fell, she grabbed her widows bite from her bedside table and shot him with it, paralyzing him temporarily. He had fallen onto his side, so she knelt beside him and flashed her knife in his face.

"See this?" she asked him. His eyes glanced to her knife and then back to her face, amusement flashing in his eyes."

"Oh this won't be fun," she taunted him as she moved down and removed his shoe. She made a tiny cut right behind his ankle, no deeper than a papercut. "Right here, right where you feel that little sting is the Achilles heel. Cut that and it zips back up to the knee; sounds like a firecracker."

She glanced back up to him to see fear in his eyes. She laughed as she waved the knife at him.

"But don't worry," she said as she dropped the knife, "that isn't me anymore."

Just as she turned to alert the Avengers, Darcy came from her room.

"What's with the maniacal laughing at freakin' 2o'clock in the morning?"

'Bucky finally came out of the temporary paralysis and used her distraction to grab the knife and plunge it into at Natalia's leg. She hit the ground as Bucky shot up and noticed Darcy. He saw the fear flash before her eyes, and anger clouded his senses. This measly little girl had gotten the best of him and dropped him out of a plane. He went to run at her, meaning to hurl her out of the window but a hand caught his leg, pulling him to the ground. Natasha had grabbed him and pulled him down. She rolled over to Darcy and stood before the paralyzed girl, knife in hand, ready to defend her. Bucky rose from the ground and faced the two women. He got closer and faked a hit to Natasha's face, making her bring the knife up to protect herself. He instead moved at the last second, ramming himself into her and knocking her to the ground. By this time, JARVIS had alerted the Avengers to the intruder and they shot from their rooms, racing for Natasha's floor.

The impact of the fall made it hard for Natasha to get up so Darcy stood in front of her this time, taser in hand. Confusion swept across his face as the anger started to leave him.

For the first time that night, he spoke. "Why do you protect that murderer?"

"Because she's my friend," Darcy shot back quickly. "She isn't who you think she is, she left her old life behind, she's Natasha now, Natalia is gone."

Natasha was able to pull herself up and stood, trying to pull Darcy behind her again.

"She has saved so many lives, even Steve's a few times. Natasha is good, you are the only bad one here."

The girl struck a nerve in Bucky. He thought about what she said and then recalled how Natasha could have seriously injured him by cutting his heel. He walked closer to the two and then looked Natasha in the eyes. They stared defiantly back at him, but he could tell that this was not his old comrade. He then knelt down and picked up the knife. He could almost feel Darcy shaking. He then rose, and presented the hilt of the knife to Natasha. She took it, bracing herself for some sort of trick, but it never came. He backed away and headed for the window. The rest of the avengers finally made it to Natasha's floor and they barged in, only able to see Bucky leaping from the window to who knows what below, they were pretty high up in the tower. Steve ran to the window while Clint, Thor, and Tony ran to the girls.

The boys all spoke at once asking if they were okay and Clint poking Natasha's injuries.

"Were fine," Natasha said annoyed, "Stop poking me Clint! That hurts!"

He mumbled a sorry, knowing that she really didn't mean anything by it. She hated being at the center of attention but he needed to assess her wounds.

"You need that dressed by the way." He said referring to her bleeding leg. And take it easy Nat, no more beating up bad guys."

Natasha nodded thanks to him but promised to dress it herself, and then explained what happened. They could hardly believe it when they told him that he had surrendered. After all the fuss was over, the boys left the room to go back to bed and Natasha climbed into bed with Darcy since her bed was all messed up and a little bloody.

Natasha couldn't find sleep. Grunting from a sore body, she climbed out of bed an hour after Darcy had fallen asleep and decided to go to the roof for some fresh air and to think about things. She crept out of bed quietly so she wouldn't wake Darcy. Opening her bedroom door, she slipped into the hallway and entered the private elevator. She hit the button to the roof and stepped out into the cool night air. The cold breeze that blew at that height made goosebumps cover her bare arms and legs. She almost wished that she had worn a jacket and pants instead of her tank top and shorts, but decided not to go back to fetch them. Moving closer to the edge of the tower, she was surprised to see herself not alone.

There, staring off the edge of the tower was a familiar raven-haired god. Loki had finally come.

9׏