Natasha came to several hours after Arina had transferred her into Ksenia's custody in the bleak cell room. The room seemed to still be spinning but she was able to focus more clearly than she had before. When she tried to move though, a large weight still seemed to be holding her down. Maybe this wasn't all over yet, she thought. It wasn't until the arms that were holding her slowly released did she realize she was on the floor in Ksenia's warm arms, presumably because of her thrashing around as the dizziness took hold of her senses.

Ksenia's shushed voice pulled her from her confusion as she shook off a small wave, more of a ripple if compared to before. "Take it slow for me, okay? I seriously doubt all of it has passed but it looks like the worst of it is gone."

Instead of answering, Natasha was suddenly frozen in pain as Ksenia moved from behind her. Her body tensed up and alerted Ksenia that something was wrong, and then she remembered the needle marks she had seen. She moved more slowly this time and Natasha started to relax as she braced herself gently against the wall.

A concerned face popped into her frame of view, so she let a small smile slip to tell her daughter that she was okay, just give her a minute to gather her senses. Ksenia in turn smiled back in relief but her concern stayed with her. There was pain written over her mother's face and from the way she was squinting against the dim light told her that she probably had a hell of a headache. After a few minutes of silence, Natasha summoned her strength before telling Ksenia what happened. She debated on if she should tell her what she thought of Bucky knowing, but ultimately decided to leave that out in case someone was listening. Besides, she was still a little confused as to his intentions, though he put on a good show of hating her when Yuri had come back into the lab. His smile though, it was just like Steve had described when reminiscing about his old friend. She knew he had good intention, but how long would his mind keep him from slipping this time? She told Ksenia about the whole spinal fluid thing and then about the adrenaline shot that had knocked her on her ass. Looking down at her chest, it still hadn't healed yet but that was probably due to her not being back to normal yet.

While Natasha told her most of what she knew, Ksenia watched her eyes flutter as they struggled to stay open. She wondered how in the world why she was exhausted with the adrenaline still pumping through her system but then again, she didn't really know what not having enough spinal fluid does to a body. That was never taught in HYDRA 101. As the drowsiness looked like it was winning, Ksenia scooted next to her and together they decided to rest.

While they slept, The Avengers Tower was still wide awake after Bobbi's most recent episode. "I told you for the last time, Stark, that yes, Barnes confirmed that there was a mole in the Red Room." Bobbi was still reeling after such an intense connection. Even though the vision was over, the dizziness she had experienced was still there, though a lot less dull. Focusing on the conversation was proving to be difficult due to the grogginess left over from when Stark had sedated her to keep her from hurting herself, though she still rolled though the waves as Natasha had, as well as the ones she was experiencing now. And the scary part...she could still feel her. A phantom weight pressed against her left side and she could feel an invisible hand on her arm. It was a gentle hand, reassuring almost. Sleepiness threatened to drag her under and she was about to just let it take her, just so she could try and reach Natasha; she felt so much closer this time. She tried shaking it off and clearing her head to focus on the conversation at hand for at least a moment, but she was just about to give up.

"Bobbi, take it easy, you were in there for hours. That's way more than you've ever experienced before." Darcy was acting like a worried mother ever since Bobbi had been 'brought back to life' after almost being killed by Dove.

She gritted her teeth before snapping back at Darcy. "If one more person tells me to take it easy, I will throat punch them into next week," Bobbi said angrily as she held her head. From the snippets of conversation she did hear though, it sounded like everyone had finally accepted Dove's truth for what it was; he really did have a mole in there. That didn't really make her feel any better due to the near-death experience he put her though. Even though it was for the betterment of the group, she didn't know how she would ever forgive him for what he did.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Darcy frown at her although she knew the brunette understood where she was coming from. Black dots started seeping into her vision as the darkness of sleep still had her in its grasp. With the effects of the remaining sedative in her system, her body working to replace all the blood she had lost a few days ago, and the extreme fatigue symptoms she was feeling from Natasha, she was close to collapsing. Vaguely, she heard her name being called so she looked up for the sound of the voice. It was most likely Tony who had asked her a question when she missed it. Her name sounded foreign in her ears as a low roar muffled it, and his form started to get fuzzy. He spoke again and though she couldn't make out anything comprehensible, his tone pounded through her still throbbing head.

"Can it Stark," she mumbled as she tried pulling herself back together. She really wanted to lay down right now, something wasn't right, but she was tired of looking weak in front of the team. She didn't remember making the decision but as she started to move to a less...crowded area, the ground rushed up at her. Not even having the strength to catch herself, she gave up and let go of reality, feeling as if she had left her own body as she blacked out.

The ground felt soft, and...right? Fighting back the fatigue, she opened her eyes and knew she was dreaming. She was laying back in his arms, as if he had caught her when she collapsed. He smelled like old leather and earth. His embrace was something that she thought she had forgotten, but now, she suddenly remembered each time he had ever held her. Every ounce of hate or disappointment flooded out of her body and seemed to vanish into nothingness as if it was never even there in the first place.

"I've missed you," she whispered as she looked into those eyes that had always told her that everything would be okay.

"Missed me? I've never left," he said somewhat confused.

The lines in his face contorted into confusion and she frowned in response. Others then crowded around and when she saw Darcy, she smiled again dreamily. She saw Stark in the background with his hands in his hair, stressed, as well as Clint, Thor, and Steve standing behind them, giving them some space. It was nice to see them she admitted but when Loki turned his attention back to her, everyone else seemed to fade away.

"I wish you could see her," she said to him in an attempt to see his smile again.

"See who, Miss Morse?" he asked as his body shifted to make room for Clint who had now seemed to take possession of her to move her elsewhere.

No, she didn't want Clint, she wanted Loki. Why was he letting her go? This was her dream, she could do whatever she wanted. Why couldn't she make Clint stop? She started struggling and only then did she get what she wanted.

"Hey, take it easy." That was Darcy, but she didn't care about Darcy right now. She shook the concerned girls hand off and reached up to touch Loki's face who was holding her again on the floor. Why couldn't she get up?

"Miss Morse, I'm going to bring you to a more comfortable room right now..."

"Morse?" she mumbled in confusion. Her confusion caught the full attention of Loki now who had halted his efforts in picking her up, he instead simply held her, she clearly wasn't in her right mind.

"Loki get her to bed, she needs to rest..." Darcy was saying before Loki looked at her as if he dared to have hope. "What?"

"Bobbi?" he asked with a slight shake in his voice.

Sleepiness started to pull her back then, she was tired and didn't want to dream anymore, she just wanted to sleep and wake up with her next to her. No, not really, she wanted her out of there. "Please get her out of here," she begged as sadness spilled from her eyes. She needed to wake up, she needed to be there to protect her in case he came back.

"Her?" Loki asked, "who are you talking about, you aren't making any sense."

"Please save her Loki, my malenkaya. Please..." It was then that the darkness took her back and her head went limp across his chest, leaving Loki dumbfounded.

"Natasha! Natasha wake up, Nat..." he begged as he held Bobbi's now limp and unconscious form in his arms. He looked up and saw that everyone had heard what he did. "That's what she called Ksenia right before she died."

The room was silent, Natasha was right there... No one moved until Clint went to take Bobbi from Loki's arms. Loki held her possessively until he came to the realization that Natasha was gone again, just like that. Clint picked her up and disappeared into a room with her as Loki looked on with such a look of utter loss.

"I'm calling in Fury," Tony said after seeing the expressions on everyone's faces. "I'm done with all the bullshitting; we aren't getting anywhere."

"Tony, no," Clint said as he returned. "If we get close to them without being prepared, we could lose them to the wind. Yuri could move them, and we would have to start this whole search over again. No large tasks forces, we keep this small. Besides, how do we know Echo doesn't have their own moles next to Fury?"

Darcy nodded and sighed loudly. "As much as I hate that, I agree. We wait for...that asshole, Dove, and his mole."

"I'm with Clint and Darcy," Steve said as he agreed, looking to Tony apologetically. "Like you said, Dove's mole has to move at a precise time or the whole plan blows up in our faces. What we can focus on though is why Loki can't get to them."

"Hold up, I have an idea." Darcy said before going quiet again. When she didn't say anything, Tony gave her a look that said 'well, we are waiting'. "I know who we can call. We can't call Fury, he would send every available agent and blow this operation, but we can call a special team that works for SHIELD."

"No, Darcy," Clint said as everyone caught on to what she was saying. "They've done enough, and what do you think is going to happen when they find out that we have had Bobbi for the past few months under their noses, especially when she died and no one told them."

"Well, that's not all entirely true," she said mockingly though she did see a point. "Skye and Jemma Simmons know that she's with us, but not that she 'died' under our watch. And besides, don't we need to get the word out that Bobbi is still 'dead'? You know that Echo has got eyes on us. I say we bring them in on the plan, call them on an 'open' line. They come to collect her 'body', and then we fill them in on what's going on so that when we do need them, we have backup. They may even be able to help us with Loki's issue of being locked out of wherever they are being held." No one said anything for several moments, but Darcy knew she won. The smiles on their faces told her so and even Loki started to have some hope again. "So, should I call them or what?"

"Call them." That's all they needed; the absolute order came from Loki and was backed by Tony. No one stopped Tony from placing the call and everyone was forced to listen in silence as he spoke with Agent May. The shock and sorrow that tried to remain guarded in the agent's voice seeped out within her response. She told them that she would have her team there by the next morning.

When the next morning came, everyone was tense as they watched the B.U.S. land at the tower over the monitors. Tony and Clint went to greet them and bring them to the lab while the rest of the team waited for them in silence. They really believed that Bobbi was dead, and hopefully they would understand when they saw her why they had to do what they did.

What they didn't expect was to see the awful tear streaked faces of the SHIELD team slowly shuffle into the lab. It didn't help that Bobbi was still asleep in the next room, so they couldn't see her yet. It was agreed the night before that the team had to be scanned for bugs before they could be told the truth, and it did not go well.

Clint stopped them right inside the door and told them that they had to be scanned. The solemn faces turned furious and tension rose at the sight of the wand.

"May, please, you know its protocol," Clint pleaded as he lied to the senior agent. It definitely was not protocol and Agent May was caught off guard. The look Clint had given her though told her that there was more to this situation and to please go along with it. Her agents didn't know that it wasn't protocol, but she went along with it and ordered them to comply. The second the all clear was given though, Skye stormed across the room and tackled Darcy to the floor. Darcy was caught off guard and went on the defensive, trying to get the brunette off of her.

"You promised me that you would take care of her!" she yelled as grief took over the young agent. She didn't even have time to get in a good blow until agents May and Clint pulled the angry girl away from Darcy.

"Everyone chill out!" Tony yelled as he entered the lab behind everyone. "I can explain all of this, let me just get the tower locked back down first!"

"Stark you better start talking, and I mean now," Agent May demanded as she gripped Skye's shoulder in warning. "Skye here told me last night that Morse... Bobbi has been with your team for the past few weeks when she was supposed to be on vacation. She also told me of a little trip she and Simmons went on a few weeks ago to stitch her up after a run in with HYDRA. What the hell is going on?"

Tony gave a little nervous laugh as all of his thoughts on how to handle this meeting suddenly left his mind. "Has anyone ever told you how scary you are when you are being all angry calm?" When no one tried to help him, he sighed and tried to think of a new way to break the news without being tackled like Darcy was. Speaking of Darcy, he looked over and saw that she had left the room, presumably to see if she could wake Bobbi. Looking around the crowded area, he backed away to his computer to instead show them what had happened.

Everyone, his team consisting of Clint, Steve, Thor, and Loki backed away to give the SHIELD team some space. So, it was just him, Agents May, Skye, a very upset Hunter, Mack, Jemma Simmons and Fitz looking at the video feed. "Before I press play, I want you to know that...Bobbi is alive and okay...ish." Chaos erupted around him but Tony said no more while he pressed play and retreated. "There is more to this story than what I can tell you, but this is a start." He purposely started the feed at the moment Echo attacked the Tower to draw everyone away from Dove and Bobbi. He needed them to see what Dove did to her, they would need to harness that anger and hatred to convince Echo that Bobbi had been taken out.

When it was all over and they witnessed Tony bringing her back to life, they demanded to see Bobbi.

"No," Loki said as all eyes turned to him. Everyone seemed surprised and on edge to see the god who had tried and somewhat succeeded in destroying New York standing there and giving orders. The team took in the Avengers reactions to Loki being there and started to relax.

"What do you mean, no?" Hunter asked through gritted teeth. He looked as if Loki's rejection was about to set him off but Thor moved in next to his brother.

"I mean you no disrespect," Loki began, "but Miss Morse has been through an ordeal with the latest connection with Natasha. She needs to rest."

Hunter stood there dumbfounded and then looked at May for backup. Agent May looked to Tony and saw the pleading look in his face. She saw that this entire team had been through some deep shit and clearly needed a break. Besides, she needed to be there for her team after what they had just seen on that video. "You said that Bobbi is okay, right?" she asked.

"I said 'ish, but yes, she is okay, you have my word." Tony said as he sighed in relief. She was giving him a break. He looked to Steve, Thor, Loki, and Clint for them to book it out of there for at least a few minutes to let the other team decompress while they grabbed something to eat for everyone.

It wasn't until later that night that they were able to see and talk to their missing teammate. Tensions were still running a little high and Skye was feeling a little guilty about going after Darcy earlier. "Hey Stark, is Darcy around? I wanted to apologize for hurting her earlier."

"Ahh I'm sure she fine. She did the same thing to me too as you saw." Tony had been busy filling the team in on what was going on as well as the plan to assist them in the future if it ever came to that. They were now all just hanging around and waiting. "She's gotten pretty attached to Bobbi lately, and the both of them together are super attached to Natasha."

"Yeah," Skye agreed as she sighed in boredom, "I saw that back in Russia." She then caught the eye of Steve and went to flirt with Captain America.

Tony was then interrupted by May who had walked over with Hunter and Jemma. "We've been talking, and we want to bring Bobbi back with us. Jemma thinks that she needs to be away from all of this based on the scans she's been going over."

"Nuh-Uh, No, we need her here. She's all we have to keep an eye on Natasha right now. Besides, I'm sure she would want to stay anyway," Tony argued back. "We only needed you guys to come and collect her 'dead body' to convince Echo that the link was destroyed, and that Dove was able to complete his mission."

"That's not up to you, Stark," Agent May warned. "She is an agent of SHIELD, and a member of my team. She comes back with us, and that's final."

"The hell you are, May," chimed in the tired voice of none other that Bobbi Morse. "I'm technically still on vacation and I can do whatever I want."

"Bob!" Hunter yelled in surprise and he almost ran Darcy over who had entered with Bobbi. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" he yelled as he attempted to shower her with kisses.

"Hey, back off," Darcy warned when Bobbi had started to sway, "she's not at 100 right now."

"Oh, piss off," Hunter said as he ignored her warning. "That's never held her down before." It wasn't until Bobbi's knees began to buckle did Hunter realize just how fragile she was right now. He caught her around the waist and steadied her while apologizing profusely.

Hunter helped guide her to the couch while instead of Hunter sitting next to her, Darcy planted herself protectively at her side and dared him to say anything. He held his hands up in surrender and instead pulled a chair up to her other side and took her hand.

She was looking a lot better, especially after a shower. The dark circles stood out sharply against her pale skin though, but she really looked like getting some rest had helped. "I'm fine guys, stop staring at me," she warned as every single pair of eyes had followed her as soon as she had stepped into the room.

After some small talk and a lot of questions, the tension in the room had all but left. Bobbi was currently in another room with Darcy, Fitz, and Simmons, while some tests were being run. Hunter was annoyed that he wasn't in there with them but when Bobbi brushed him off, he knew that there was something else that she wasn't telling him. It had already been decided though that Bobbi would be staying since no one wanted to talk her out of it or argue to a wall. Hunter was still pissed at having to leave her there, especially after not having contact after she went AWOL on her 'vacation'. He was forced to go while Skye, Jemma, and Fitz were allowed to stay to focus on the 'Loki' problem. After another small reunion and tweaking of the plans, the SHIELD team was forced to depart in order to keep suspicions down. They would have loved to stay the night, but they needed to be wheels up.

Everything went smoothly with the departure, so everyone tried to get some rest. Darcy and Skye had made up and Bobbi had shooed Skye and Simmons to their rooms. Fitz, who had been following Tony around was shown to his room and Darcy turned in next to Bobbi's room. Eventually, everyone in the Tower had fallen silent as hope for answers was left for the next day.