A/N: So I want to thank everyone who followed this story, also to those who reviewed, it still means a lot to me! Anyways, I am sad to say that there will be no Loki for a little bit, as he comes into the story a couple of chapters in. Thanks again, and here's the next chapter of Don't Let Me Fall :D

! #$%^

"Rise and shine, Sammie!" Someone shouted, and my eyes flew open. Instantly I groaned, and held my pounding head in my hands. Jesus, did I get hit by a truck? I looked up to see Clint heading for the blinds, and practically had a heart attack.

"No!" I shouted, but it was too late. Clint ripped open the blinds, and sunlight streamed in through the floor length window.

"Agh!" I cried out in pain as the bright light immediately made my head feel like it was splitting open. I hid under the covers, waiting for the horrible headache to go away, but it only felt worse.

"Come on, Sammie. Time to get up!" Clint said, and pulled the covers off of me. I groaned once again, and slowly sat up. The second I sat upright, I felt like I was going to fall back down onto the bed. The world seemed to spin around me, and my head felt like it weighed ten tons.

"Damn it…" I muttered, before standing up. The feeling didn't go away, but I managed to keep upright. I was an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.; I wasn't going to be taken down from a hangover! I looked over at Clint, who had a stupid grin on his face. I made a face at him, before realizing what made him so happy.

"Oh!" I smiled at him, and he flushed, coughing nervously.

"I assume that you had something to do with Nat's, um, behavior last night?" He asked, and I grinned.

"Yup," I said, proud of myself. Then I frowned. "At least I think. Everything that happened last night is kind of fuzzy…" I murmured.

I remembered shopping with Nat perfectly, and then I know that we hit the bar. Nat ordered something strong for me, and the rest was a sort of blur. I remember a little bit of spilling my guts about Loki to her, and telling her to go get it on with my brother. I flushed, remembering how I made a complete idiot out of myself.

"Yeah, I imagine so. You were very… intoxicated last night," Clint said, and I hung my head. Here it comes, the big brother lecture.

"Yeah, I know. Drinking that much is irresponsible and such, I should be more careful, what with being an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and all… I get it." I said.

Clint laughed, and shook his head.

"No, it was actually nice to see you that happy, even if you were just a little bit loopy. How much did you have to drink?" He asked, and I shrugged, honestly not knowing.

"Nat kept ordering drinks for me. I didn't count," I said, and followed him as he walked out of my room, trying to keep on my feet. Clint just chuckled, and headed out into the living room. I trudged along behind him, my two feet working slower than I'd have liked.

The rest of the team was already out in the living room, and this time with Bruce there too. He had always been in his labs, working on something or another. But this time he just smiled when he saw me, and I waved back at him.

"Hey guys," I said, and everyone simultaneously smirked at me.

"Never took you for a drinker, Princess," Tony shook his head. "Must be taking after me," He stretched lazily out on the sofa. I rolled my eyes at him, and sunk into one of the loveseats next to Steve. He raised an eyebrow at me, and his lips turned up into a smirk.

"So I take it everyone heard about last night?" I asked, and they all nodded.

"The way I see it, it's great as long as you're doing something other than-"

"Sleeping and eating poptarts. Yes, I know," I said, cutting off Bruce as he spoke. I sent him a small smile, and he returned it.

"Actually, speaking of that, we've thought up a plan to make sure that you don't fall back into that… phase," Steve said, and I raised an eyebrow.

"What if I like sleeping all day and doing nothing?" I asked, mainly doing so just to say something. I didn't particularly like sleeping all day, but I couldn't let them know that.

"Sure, because sitting around is so much fun. Believe me, this idea is better; it was mine." Tony smirked. I rolled my eyes, but was more than eager to hear the idea they came up with. Maybe now I would have something that would get me out of this depressing state.

Even though I loved strawberry poptarts.

"We're going to make you go back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Since Clint and Natasha are already back there doing missions, we figured you could go on a couple of assignments with them. The rest of us will come along too," Steve said, and I brightened instantly.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes, back to dearoldS.H.I.E.L.D. Cause don't we all love Fury and Hill and all the rest of those charming people?" Tony said, the sarcasm dripping off of his words. But as much as he might complain, it was his idea, and I knew that he was looking forward to doing something other than drinking all day.

"That's… that's great!" I said, grinning like an idiot.

This would definitely be something that I could work with, something that would get my mind off of the… things that made me depressed. Oh, hell, why lie to myself? It would be a great way to get my mind off of Loki.

Loki, Loki, Loki. There, I said it.

I sighed, and turned my attention back to the room I was in.

"So I take that as a yes," Bruce smiled, and crossed his arms.

"See? I told you it was a brilliant idea." Tony said, smirking his trademark smirk. Clint shook his head, but turned to leave the room.

"I'll let Fury know that we're open for business," He grinned. I nodded, and took a deep breath.

Here we go again.

! #$%^

The next morning I groaned at the sound of my alarm clock blaring its annoying little chirping noise, and smacked it, sending it flying off of my nightstand.

Oh. At least it shut up.

I sat up and stretched out my arms, glad that my hangover was gone. I had taken two Aspirin the day before, but they seemed to do nothing at all. Well, it was gone now, and I guess that that was all that mattered. I glanced at the time on the alarm clock on the floor, and sighed when it read 4:30.

I was training with Natasha and Clint again today, since we were going to take a trip to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base tomorrow, to get a new assignment. I quickly got dressed and headed towards the gym two floors down. I took the stairs, knowing that it was best to get warmed up before our sparring lesson.

I walked into the gym, where Clint and Natasha stood close by each other. Their arms brushed together lightly, and I involuntarily smiled at the sight. When they noticed me standing by the doorway, they subtly moved apart, and motioned me over.

"You ready to get your ass kicked, Sammie?" Clint asked, grinning his stupid grin. I smacked his shoulder, frowning.

"Ass is a bad word, Birdy," I said, using an old nickname for him. Clint smirked.

"You're one to talk; you have a vocabulary that would make any mother cringe," He countered. I thought about it for a second, and then nodded in agreement. He was right; I did know some very naughty words. But, knowing them and using them are two different things, so I'm sure I was in the clear.

"Alright, just let me stretch, and we'll get this thing started," I said, moving over to stretch out my limbs.

Clint threw a look over at Natasha, who nodded ever so slightly. I froze, and knew what was going to come next. Suddenly, Natasha disappeared from sight, and I used my knowledge of her attacks to quickly duck, dodging a kick to my head.

"Oh, come on! I don't even get to stretch?" I whined, coming back up into a defensive stance. Neither Clint or Natasha made any acknowledgment that I had spoken, just eyed me and my stance.

Clint's arm shot out, and I barely had time to deflect it with my hands.

"And you're ganging up on me?" I sighed. Before this they had only ever spared with me one on one style, and now they were both going at me. Great.

Well, two could play at that game.

I parried another blow from Clint, and quickly saw a flaw in his technique. I jumped on it, grabbing his arm and using his momentum against him, sending him stumbling past me. I swung around and jumped up on his back, wrapping my legs around him.

Nat decided to jump in right then, pulling slightly on one of my legs. I lost my grip on him and tumbled to the ground, but rolled on the floor and hopped back up. I grinned wildly, and quickly took on an offensive stance.

I kicked out with my leg, hitting Natasha on her stomach and sending her back. Clint threw a kick of his own from my left side, one that I couldn't hope to block. I was sent stumbling sideways, trying to keep my balance.

How was this fair?

By the time I had regained my balance, Nat was there on my right, punching out and hitting me in my side. I grimaced, but quickly parried another blow from Clint. Suddenly, a foot was knocked out from under me, and I went down on one knee.

Clint and Nat circled me, giving me an opportunity to get back up, one that I didn't take. I would need a strategy if I wanted any chance of beating them, and I knew exactly what to do.

Purposely messing up, I left a window open for Clint as I stood, and his fist struck my cheek. Damn it, it hurt, but I recovered and turned to face Clint, whose arm was still held out, a horrified expression on his face.

He had obviously not expected to hit me, and was immediately guilty. Of course, because of this he left ten million windows open for me, and I took it. I slid underneath him, grabbing a leg and pulling, sending him down harshly on his side. He grunted, and I jabbed my elbow into his side.

Confident that he was down, I turned around, narrowly avoiding a punch to the face from Natasha. I changed my stance to a defensive one, and blocked every single punch she threw at me. Frowning, I knew that I had to take her down fast, or Clint would be up and I'd have to deal with him again.

I lashed out with all of my rage and speed, hitting and kicking and spinning and doing whatever the hell it took to take her down. I managed to get a kick in the her side, and that's when she went down on her knees.

I stopped as I was about to hit her, smiling at my accomplishment. But Natasha only grinned, and nodded behind me.

I whipped around and came face to face with Steve, who gently knocked my foot out from underneath me, sending me to the ground. I was too shocked to react in time, so I slammed into the ground, harshly hitting my head on the floor.

I stayed down and groaned.

"I almost had you!" I said, smacking the ground with my palm. Steve held out a hand, and I took it with a resigned sigh.

"Always pay attention to your surroundings. Steve snuck up on you while you were lashing out at me, and you didn't notice until it was too late. You would've been killed before you even knew what was happening," Nat said, a small smile still in place.

She walked over to my brother, who had a frown on and was rubbing his side. I sent an apologetic look over at him, and rolled my tense shoulders. Steve glanced down at me.

"Sorry," He spoke, a little sheepishly. I lightly punched his shoulder, and beamed.

"It's alright, Cap'," I said, and headed for the door. He followed closely by my side. "You got me good, though…" I laughed, and he frowned.

"I didn't mean to hurt you." He apologized.

"Nah, you didn't really hurt me. I was just surprised, that's all," I made sure he understood that I wasn't hurt. Well, besides my jaw, but that was my own doing. I rubbed at the sore skin on my cheek, and knew that there was going to be a bruise there later.

"Alright, Cap'. Thanks for the lesson!" I said, skipping off towards the kitchen. I searched through the cabinets, searching for my strawberry poptarts. I muttered curses under my breath, not able to find the sweets.

"Looking for these?" Somebody asked. I turned around to see Clint holding up the box of poptarts. I grinned, and nodded.

"You can never have too many poptarts. Especially strawberry," I added, and Clint rolled his eyes at me, before sliding them across the counter. I grabbed the box, pulling out two of the treats, stuffing them in my mouth.

"So…" Clint started, and I groaned. Here we go. I didn't know what he wanted to say, but judging by the tone of his voice I knew that I wouldn't like it. "Steve seems like a pretty nice guy, now that I know him a little better. He's very-"

"Whoa! Wait a second!" I quickly held up a hand, silencing him. I cocked an eyebrow, and finished chewing.

"Are you trying to set me up with Captain America?" I asked, not believing that he was going there. I mean, seriously?

"I saw you two talking, and he's not too much older than you. I'm just saying, it would be nice to see you with someone like that." He finished, and I stared at him.

"Clint, Steve is just a friend, and he'll always be like that to me," I said, abandoning my poptarts and heading towards my room.

"And I don't need my brother to play matchmaker. Besides, I have enough going on already to worry about being set up with someone." I huffed, storming off to my room.

Who did my brother think that he was? I didn't need any romance in my life right now; I was still trying to get my life together. And failing, I should add. And besides, Steve? I mean, he was good looking and all, and an amazing friend, but he was Steve. And he took his job way too seriously. Not to mention the fact that he's technically seventy years older than me.

I sighed, and shut the door to my bedroom, lying down on my bed.

Tomorrow was a big day; I was going back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Apparently Clint had contacted Fury, and said that the team was ready to come back. Fury had said that he had the perfect job for us, and that a helicopter would meet us at 5:30 tomorrow to take us to the base.

So I supposed that I would be back in action tomorrow, whether I liked it or not. And I liked it, I did, but part of me wanted to stay in bed and sleep 'till noon. But I knew that it would be best for me to get out of the house, and I knew for a fact that Loki would disapprove of me being this depressed.

I will always be with you, Samantha.

His words rang through my head, making me think. 

Maybe it was for the best that Loki had left. No matter his past, or how similar we were, none of it excused his actions. How many people had suffered at his hand? How many lives had been torn apart? Perhaps it was better that he was gone, for both of us. I still felt something for him, but maybe one day that would fade. Maybe someday I would meet someone else.

Maybe. But for some reason I didn't want to think about, my heart sank at the idea.

Oh well. There was nothing I could do about it right now, besides get on with my life. I was stuck on Loki for a long time, still am technically, but already I could feel myself begin to let go. I could move on from this; I could get my life back. Was I really going to let something this small ruin me? No, I wasn't. I was stronger than this.

So, with my heart somehow feeling lighter than it has in a long time, I got out of my bed, opened my door, and headed towards the elevator. Maybe I could go bug Tony in the labs. I let out a deep breath, and pressed the button to call the elevator down to me.

I stepped inside, and watched with a gentle smile as the door slid closed.

! #$%^

A/N: So that was the next chapter of Don't Let Me Fall, I hope you guys liked it. Originally I wasn't going to have any romance between Sam and Steve, but for some reason you guys seemed to really enjoy the idea. I was going to introduce a small romantic situation with Samantha and a new Marvel character, but you guys tell me what you think.

-Sara