Unexpected

Shocked Beyond Belief

The news.

Dr. Erik Selvig was butt naked running around the Stonehenge on the news! The feed was sent out internationally! I couldn't pull my eyes away from the screen as I watched the proceeding in horror. He really had lost his mind and his dignity! Where were the British police taking him? How had he come to this point? What had he been doing at Stonehenge anyways?

That night, I frantically tried to call Selvig, but there was no response on his end, which wasn't surprising. He'd been taken in for questioning, so of course they wouldn't let him keep his phone! The next day, during my lunch break I tried to figure out just where Erik would have been taken. I was distracted all day, my mind overrun by thoughts of the doctor and worry. I'd be staring at a document, looking like I was intently studying it, but my mind was churning with thoughts of packing and seeing if I could somehow manage to find an earlier flight to London and wondering what sorts of mental treatment Selvig would need.

It was true that I had never truly known the astrophysicist in his prime, when his mind was his own and undamaged, but it astounded me that Eric's mental state had fallen so far. Had the scepter done this to him? If it turned out that that was the cause of this pain and embarrassment on Selvig's behalf, I would never be rid of my guilt. My only solace here was that as I moved through the Triskelion, it seemed that no one was mentioning the news report. It had been played rather late at night, so it seemed that few people really seemed to know or care about the story... or at least no one I was walking by was gossiping about it.

My plan to work hard and get as much done as possible faltered and crumbled away as I couldn't keep my thoughts on my work. I didn't even notice that it was time for me to return home for a while and I ended up staying and extra hour in my office. As soon as I was home, though, I was scrabbling between working on my laptop in an attempt to get some of the work I had neglected to do done and packing. German adjectives swirled in my mind along with wonderings on how warm of clothes I should bring with me. My scramble was interrupted by a knock on the door. Quirking my eyebrow curiously I answered it to see that it was Zita.

"Zita! What's up?"

"Am I interrupting something? You look a bit stressed..."

Was it really showing that much? "No, not at all. What can I do for you?"

"I think Lillian left like... half of her crayons here last night."

"What?"

"She was upset when she brought her crayon box to school with her today and half of her colors were gone. She said that she was lining them up under your couch or something..."

"My couch?" I turned around and strode over to my couch, getting on my hands and knees and peeking under it only to find a rainbow of colors lined up underneath it along the wall. "Well, I'll be darned."

Zita giggled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at her daughter's antics as she walked up behind me, taking the large handful of crayons that I dug out from beneath the couch.

"I never would have ever known they were down there... I'm not even sure when she did this."

"I apologize."

"No, don't! It's funny!" I smiled at her, standing back up and handing her the last crayon from beneath my furniture, "I needed a good laugh."

She giggled, packing the crayons away in a Ziploc baggie that she had brought with her. "Thank you, Penny."

"Anytime. Glad we found them."

I sighed as soon as the door closed, looking back over my apartment layout. Zita's interruption seemed to have distracted me enough for my busied, worried mind to calm down a bit. Why was I freaking out? I mean, I knew why I was freaking out, but at this point there was nothing I could really do until tomorrow's flight. The fact that Selvig was obviously in a spiral did very little to change my plan. I just needed to calm down and take a breath or else I would be no help to Erik when I got there.

Rolling my neck, I made my way to my office, sitting down and forcing myself to focus solely on my documents until my stomach started growling at me. I then whipped myself up a quick dinner before I headed into my bedroom to pack up. It must be colder in London than it was here, so I figured I'd need to bring a good jacket and several sweaters. Considering how nippy it still was as spring seemed to refuse to come along I was amazed that Erik had been able to handle the cold running around Stonehenge in the nude!

Oh gosh... in the nude...

How had Selvig come to this point? Had this slip in sanity spawned from damage caused by that wicked scepter mixed with a paranoia born from watching the heavens and trying to see if any other extraterrestrial anomalies could pop up? He'd said that an alignment was coming, that it would change reality itself. Was he afraid of another wormhole like the one that Loki had opened above New York? The news report said that he'd been claiming to be trying to save everyone's life as he ran around with those strange scientific pole devices. What had he been doing? What did he mean by alignment? I suppose I'd learn all this when I landed in London tomorrow. I'd track down where the police had taken Erik and then I'd get him to explain it to me while we tried to figure out what caused his mental break and how to fix it. Hopefully this Jane person would be helpful.

I shook my head, breaking my thoughts and realizing that I had frozen over my open suitcase that was sitting open on my bed. Tis' the curse of an over thinker I suppose. I'd gone dead to the world it seems whilst lost in thought. Grinning at myself I folded up another pair of jeans, tucking it over the pair of ankle boots I'd already placed inside. I never used to travel this much. It seems like I'm traveling all the time these days, inside and outside of the country. In the process I was turning into quite an expert packer. The carry-on suitcase was finally packed with items, except for those that I would need tonight that I could throw in tomorrow before heading out. I'd made it so that tomorrow was only a half day of work so that I could get on my plane and be in London before the end of Friday, the earliest time I could haggle with Agent Rumlow and the airport for me to get there. Eric would just have to wait until then.

I set the suitcase aside. The sun had long set and night had fallen upon D.C. and now that I had gotten all my work done for the day, there was nothing to do, but sleep. Well, maybe I'd have a mug of hot cocoa and check my flight tickets and plan online just once more, and then go to sleep. I doubted I'd be able to get any real rest with all the thoughts circling in my head, but I might as well try to sooth myself to sleep with something warm and sweet.

Humming under my breath I pulled out my phone, flicking through my flight arrangement information in my kitchen, stirring my hot cocoa as I waited for it to cool. Everything seemed to be in order. I lifted the mug to my lips, leaning over my counter. Why were flights so expensive? Why can't I just get my own personal quinjet? That should be a part of my contract to be an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ding dong.

Again? Who was at the door now? My gaze flicked over to the clock on my microwave. It was just past eleven in the evening! What could anyone want with me at this time of night? Steve was away on a mission, so it wasn't him! Was it Zita again? Did she discover that the girls had left something else here? Was it really that important that she would come looking for it at this time of night?

Groaning internally I abandoned my hot chocolate to head over to my apartment's front door. Honestly, at this point I was just grateful that I hadn't yet changed into my pajamas or anything. I was still in the jeans and t-shirt that I had changed into when I got home from the Triskelion. With one hand on the door knob I peeked through my peep hole trying to see who my late night visitor was.

As soon as my eyes landed on my mysterious visitor, however, I froze.

Impossible!