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Darcy Lewis liked to take care of people.
Anyone who knew the brunette for more than half an hour learned that, along with the fact that she was very, very good at it.
Within two hours of meeting Jane, Darcy had figured out how to get actual nutritious food into the easily distracted astrophysicist, not to mention get her to take breaks and get almost six full hours of sleep every two days. Eric promptly declared Darcy a miracle-worker and looked ready to build a shrine in her honor.
Eric himself was a bit harder for Darcy to get a fix on, but once she did he too found himself well-fed, resting adequately, and wearing pants 67% longer. Jane and Eric began discussing whether this qualified Darcy for godhood or sainthood. The jury was still out when Thor arrived and Darcy had another person/god to care for.
Sure it wasn't for long, but finding out how to take proper care of a Norse god and keep him happy had been a fun exercise. Darcy was actually rather proud of herself for managing to do such a good job in the short amount of time she had (stupid metal robot from space and Norse mischief god with daddy issues...).
She mastered the art of Jane-minding over the next two years of following her boss around the world chasing readings and trying to rewrite the laws of physics.
After the evil elves from space had been vanquished (she'd always wanted to use that word), Jane packed up her stuff and moved to Avengers Tower with Thor. And because where Jane went so went her nation, so Darcy followed along to make sure that Jane, Thor, and Eric all ate right and got enough sleep as she didn't trust any of them to take care of themselves.
(The incident at that one conference where Jane forgot to pack her pants only served to prove her point, and had Jane singing Darcy's praises even more loudly than usual).
Taking care of the Avengers was a lot different than just taking care of Thor and two absentminded scientists.
For one thing there were more them, which kept her busy enough as it was, and each Avenger also had different needs. Therefore Darcy needed to up her game, she had decided within five minutes of meeting Tony Stark and seeing how much care he alone needed. Pepper Potts, she decided, was a goddess.
Darcy proceeded to make mental lists of everyone, their likes and dislikes, what made them the most comfortable, what made them want to run away, and where their favorite hiding spots were. It took two whole months of recon, but well worth the work the first time she slipped Tony a sandwich while he was working and had him eat it, and the smile on Bruce's face when he saw the box of his favorite brand of exotic tea in the cabinet.
Captain America - "Call me Steve, ma'am," - was one of the easiest: all she had to do was drag him to the team lounge for an oldies movie marathon to help him catch up and bingo. She was now his go-to source for when he had media questions or just wanted to talk. His other new buddy Falcon aka Sam Wilson aka Mister Hotbutt (or so Darcy declared when she'd entered the gym out of morbid curiosity) fist-bumped her every chance he got. And let her have some homemade cookies, so she definitely came out ahead.
Clint full-on hugged her when she marched up to him and demanded that he watch Dog Cops with her so she wouldn't be the only one crying into her pizza. She now had a friend for life and was pretty damn proud of herself.
Natasha was a harder sell, the spy naturally suspicious of outsiders, and her guard was at an all-time high after Tony did some digging and discovered HYDRA-hiding-in-SHIELD. Darcy was not to be deterred, however, and she was like a pit bull with a bone when she latched on to an idea. She had had to enlist Clint's help with some of the specifics, but after a week of finding brochures for dance studios and Theatres hosting ballet performances the Black Widow caved. Darcy tactfully restrained herself from doing a happy dance until she was in her bedroom with the privacy mode engaged.
Instituting mandatory group movie nights/puppy piles was one of the best idea she'd ever had. All her people were gathered in one place and her caring instincts had raptures when she saw the smiles, grins, or just plain peaceful looks on their faces.
It was a beautiful sight, Darcy decided, beaming as she playfully wrestled Clint for a slice of pizza and checked on Bruce to make sure he was comfy.
(And while Darcy was taking care of her friends, her friends were taking care of her. In small ways compared to what she did for them, true, but small things had a tendency to add up.)