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At least the aliens are gone she thought to herself. Jane and Thor were doing the doodly-doo in a hotel Erik found - where had he gotten off to? - and Darcy decided to explore London. All of her favorite people were British: Colin Morgan, Christian Bale, Colin Firth, her great Auntie Caroline... She liked a lot of C-names. Anyway, she found herself lacking male celebrities and eccentric family members and standing in front of a building. They all looked the same. She was lost.
What was the name of that man Bruce was talking about? A genius dpctor. Of course. Sherlock Watson? John Holmes? But, if he's friends with Bruce, he might be nice enough to help me find my way back to the boss lady.
Where was his house? 221 Baker Street... I'm in a city. A very large city. This is hopeless. I'm talking to myself again. Clint would laugh.
As luck would have it, she could indeed see a sign for Baker Street a block or two away, and she began to make her way towards it... That is, until the was gagged, chloroformed, and knocked out.
"Looking for Sherlock? What are you, a new girlfriend? No, he doesn't have girlfriends. Possibly a friend of the doctor's?"
"I know a lot of doctors," Darcy replied to the smooth feminine voice behind her. She was too distressed to be upset that her soulmate had tied her to a chair. A disgruntled sigh came from behind her and the most beautiful woman Darcy had ever seen was standing in front of her, buck-ass naked with one of those little flogging whips in her hand. She crossed her arms and stared Darcy down.
"I hope you know I can't let you go for some emotional exchange, or whatever you were expecting. You're one of Sherlock's accomplices."
"Actually, I've never met him." Darcy could detect a small amount of confusion, it was barely there but Darcy knew about tells. She took a Psych 101 class. "After the aliens, my boss left me and I'm lost. I heard one of my doctor friends talking about a Sherlock or a John or something in London... I was just hoping he would help a friend of a friend out," Darcy shrugged but froze when the woman laughed.
"Sherlock? Friends?" She scoffed and stared at Darcy again, a smirk on her lips. "Your friend was mislead. Sherlock has no friends."
"Irene, stealing innocent girls again?" Came a deep voice from behind her. Darcy zoned out for twenty minutes as the geniuses had it out, but tuned in when her hands were unbound by a smaller man, he had a kind face and Darcy calmed a small amount.
"Sorry, this is what happens when anyone is Sherlock's friend," Darcy huffed.
"He's not my friend. Bruce mentioned him in passing."
"Bruce Banner?"
"The very same."
"We met once... Very briefly, but he was a good man."
"That he is. I want to go back to America. My soulmate is a crazy dominatrix and I need a good cup of American coffee. The kind that is supposed to taste like Irish cream but doesn't so I just add alcohol to it. I need coffee." She was rambling, but he was a doctor and understood her shock. Chloroform and soulmates did that.
"How do you think I felt when I found out this asshole was my soulmate? Not excited. Let's get you out of here. You mentioned friends in London?"
"Yeah, my boss and her Godly boyfriend and our crazy doctor friend..."
John helped her back to Jane, and when they returned to America, Darcy drank with Tony about crazy soulmates. He never talked about his. Darcy heard Happy say that she was a crazy botanist, but Tony was happy with Pepper (whose soulmate was a weird business guy... something about AIM?) and Darcy could only hope she would find someone to love her like the two of them.
"Soulmate's a bust?" Clint popped in while they were drinking.
"She was a fugitive dominatrix who faked her death after I left. I ain't even mad," she shrugged and clinked glasses with Tony as Clint grabbed a shot glass and joined in the drinking.
"So you won't mind if I...?" When she looked to see why he trailed off, he'd grasped the back of her neck in one muscular hand and kissed her firmly, pressing her back into the bar and causing Tony to let out a drunken chortle and leave them alone.
Her response came after a long breathless kiss: "Not at all, Archer boy."