Chapter Text
FUCK!
Darcy messed up. She’s been pretty good at not fucking up lately. She was at 364 days of nothing going wrong. Of course, her luck wouldn't last an entire year. She should know it already.
How did Darcy Fucked up?
Well, it started the previous month, when both she and Julie, the night assistant for Jane, were talking about their respective partners being in a mood because it was THAT time in the month. Seriously, they said women went crazy on their period, but tell men sex was off for a week and they began to climb the walls.
Now, she didn’t see Julie often, they each had their shift, both for Darcy’s sanity and so she could go back to college -night classes- and have a private life. Jane wasn’t happy with it and barely talked to Julie. Darcy told the other woman not to take it personally, Jane barely noticed she was there when she was on a date with SCIENCE!
A month later, Julie was telling Darcy how she was ready to dump her boyfriend if he didn’t get his “periode crazy” act in check, she was the one having to deal with it, he still had his right hand.
The thing was. Darcy wasn’t in this “he’s driving me crazy” frame of mind and for a very good reason. Darcy did not currently have her period. She tried to turn it in her mind, there were many reasons for it, reasons Google would not give her the obvious answer for.
Julie could have a funky cycle. One of her friends had hers every 24 days and hated them all for a week every year. If Julie had a funky cycle then Darcy wasn’t late.
She was taking a new pill, the doctor told her it could alter her cycle. This was an equally good answer.
Fine, those were the only reasons she could think of. But, surely, there were others. She just couldn’t think about them because Julie wouldn’t stop talking.
Actually, when she got out of her haze, she realized 1- Julie stopped talking, 2- Julie was looking at her with her eyes the size of a dessert plate.
“No one is panicking!” She almost yelled at her.
“I wasn’t panicking,” Julie told her calmly.
“Please tell me you have a super short lapse between your period and/or you are not taking the SI provided birth control?” Darcy was ready to beg for Julie to tell her exactly what she wanted to hear.
Julie grimaced.
“Still not panicking,” Darcy swore. “I will be an adult, and go down to the pharmacy to buy a test or ten. Do you know a pharmacy in Williamsburg? That’s where you live isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Julie answered with a frown.
“I need somewhere JARVIS won’t think of tracking me, and without using my credit card.”
“Aren’t you going a little Mission Impossible,” Julie asked her.
“The only reason I don’t have this little freakout outside the tower is because JARVIS isn’t allowed to monitor the toilets,” Darcy admitted.
“Okay.” Julie seemed to think about what to add. “You know where I live since you’ve been there. Around the corner, there is a bookstore, they have a personnel product section, you can buy tests there. They don’t have a surveillance cam because the owner is an ex-cop and everyone in the neighborhood knows it.”
“Why is he selling tests?” Darcy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Book girls,” Julie told her with a laugh, which Darcy joined. Sure if you think about it this way.
“Just take out money at the ATM before taking the subway and no one will see something wrong with it.”
“You’re sure you don’t work for SHIELD?” Darcy was always teasing her with it.
“We pinky swore we weren’t!” Julie acted offended until they both laughed.
“I’ll go before coming to work tomorrow. It gives one more day for my body to get on with the planning,” Darcy told her.
Julie rolled her eyes, and yes, Darcy knew it was a stupid hope, but she still hoped.
Darcy took off. It was the end of her shift, and with a little luck no one would see her get out of the tower among all the other worker bees. She lied to Julie, there was no way she was waiting, there was equally no way for her to take that test while at the tower. A tower under surveillance 100% day and night. Sure, JARVIS wasn’t spying on them and she was paranoid, but she would still stop by Starbuck on the way back to pee, and buy a book from the shop, just in case someone asked why she was in Williamsburg after work.
When Darcy made it to the bookstore she immediately knew what Julie meant about no surveillance and a cop owner. The bookstore was named Safe Haven, the number for SOS Suicide and SOS battered women were hidden as numbers to call the shop, the entire place was field with little bits of information and sentence to say or book to order if you needed help. She immediately thought about the Avengers promoting this type of shop, but she realized what a bad idea it was just as fast. It would render them completely useless.
“Do you need a recommendation?” a nice and smiling young woman asked.
“I’ll need a book in a moment, but I’d prefer wandering as I don’t know exactly what I want,” Darcy told her.
“And, what do you need immediately?”
“Pregnancy test?” the young woman looked so nice she didn’t even wince when she asked for it.
“Pregnancy test or morning after pill?” The girl “Tara” according to her name tag was the very calm, non-judgy kind.
“Isn’t it a little late for a morning after pill by the time we ask for a test,” Darcy wondered.
“You wouldn’t imagine the number of women who come asking for tests only for us to explain they need to be late to know the answer, the early answer ones only work after 5 or 6 days. Once we explain they take the morning after pill if they are still in the right time period,” she explained.
“Considering, I’m late. I’m gonna need a test.” Darcy confirmed.
“I’ll get it for you. We stopped putting them in the shop when we realized not everyone knew what they really needed,” Tara told her.
“Smart,” Darcy agreed.
Tara came back quickly with a black generic box with no inscription. Darcy raised an eyebrow.
“They are all this way. Special order. There is no reason for anyone to know what one is buying. Our book bags are black too. Privacy is important,” Tara explained.
“Your shop is amazing!” Darcy was really impressed.
“Thanks! We’re looking for places to expand in the other boroughs,” Tara explained. “You wouldn’t believe the number of shop owners who would rather let yet another Starbuck in, rather than a bookshop.”
“Ever thought of expanding to Manhattan? I know a place where you would be more than welcomed.” SI owned several shops with no lease yet as people were wary of starting something so close to the tower.
“People who recognize this place for what it is would tell you it’s not needed there, but I guess we both know it isn’t true.”
“I’ll talk to someone, they’ll contact you. Do you have a card?” Pepper would be all over this and in the next month Safe Haven will expand faster than McDonalds ever dreamed of.
“Do you…” Tara hesitated, which was a first since Darcy entered the shop. “I’m not saying you need it, but if you need support for the results, I can keep you company, I have a buzzer.” She showed her a little blue square. “It tells me if someone crosses the door, so I won’t miss anyone in need, don’t worry.”
“Well,” Darcy thought about it, “I was going to stop at a coffeeshop to be honest. There are always a lot of people around me at work or at home.”
“Come.” Tara gestured for her to follow. “There’s a bathroom in the back for whoever needs it. I’ll wait for you. Don’t tell me the results, I don’t need to know. I’ll just hold your hand while you wait. Once you know, you can go, dump it on your way home, or you can keep it if you want to show someone.”
“Yeah,” Darcy said feeling a little overwhelmed and all the same thankful for Tara and the support she offered.
She left Darcy alone in the bathroom, she read the instructions. Seems easy enough, pee on the stick, wait 3 minutes. The first line was a test line to confirm the test was working as it should. The second line, if it appeared, meant pregnant.
Darcy spent a long time reading, and rereading the “How to”. She wasn’t sure she wanted an answer. She wasn’t joking when she told Julie she wanted to wait for her body to get with the program. She was hoping the pill SI’s doctors gave her had some of those “stop your period” side effects. Scarily, she also wanted to be pregnant. She never thought about it before. It would be a big change in her life. She’d have to quit her job. Jane was great, but working in the labs where explosions happened on a semi regular basis, yeah, that wouldn’t work.
“I need to pee the ‘what if’ might not matter,” Darcy told herself.
Of course, she was Darcy Lewis, she peed on the stick and didn’t need to wait 3 minutes to get the answer. She turned it around to check if it was all peed on, and right there, less than 3 seconds later, two bars were already present.
And now, what?
There was Tara outside. Tara who she didn’t know, but was ready to help her, as she helped many women before her.
There was Julie, who knew she needed the test.
Thankfully, she told no one else. If she was going to decide it needed to be her decision, not one influenced by anyone.
She took a deep breath, washed her hands, packed up the test, and got frustrated as she washed her hands a second time. She opened the door, and went to wash her hands a third time, who knows who touched the door before her.
“I guess you already have your answer,” Tara said from the doorway.
Darcy startled, turning around so fast she had to clench the counter to stabilize herself.
“How do you…. How?”
“The washing of hands? We have a lot of women doing it after they have their results,” Tara explained. “I don’t know if it’s a protection thing or just a “if I wash my hands I’m not thinking about it” thing, but it’s a tale.”
“The second line appeared immediately, and yes, the first line was there too,” Darcy confirmed. “I don’t know what it means about my situation, but yep, I got my answer.”
“Do you want to try a second one? I’ve never had an answer so fast,” Tara told her, surprised.
“I’ll take a blood exam,” Darcy told her. “No better way to confirm.”
“Do you live in the neighborhood,” Tara asked. “I can tell you where you can get tested for free.”
“Thanks,” Darcy told her sincerely, “I live in Manhattan. I’m afraid I’m going to need to find a solution on my own. Don’t worry, I’ll just go to the medical service we have at work. Tomorrow morning.” Darcy was a liar who lied.
No way she’d go to SI medical facility for her blood test. To be honest she didn’t even think she needed a blood test, she knew exactly when she got pregnant, and it meant she was almost 6 weeks already, not the usual 2 weeks.
What she needed was time to think things through. And, to not let Julie know the result of her test. One more lie.
“Now,” Darcy tried to sound peppy, “you offered to help me find a book.”
Darcy followed Tara’s instruction, she walked for a while and dumped the test and its package in a random bin before taking a taxi home.