Naomi squinted, her vision blurring for a moment. She shut them again, a slight pain pounding in the back of her head. She opened her eyes to a painted white ceiling, chipped in some places, with a few stains. Naomi recognized it instantly.

She was in her bedroom. Naomi's eyebrows pinched together as she tried to force her thoughts out of the hazed, incoherent mess they were currently in. She was at home, somehow. The last thing the woman could recall was staring out over the sea of Avengers as a blue cloud overtook her sight. Naomi's frown deepened. She felt... heavy. Her thoughts moved sluggishly, and she could barely even bring herself to be panicked over the fact that she was in her own apartment, presumably in her dimension. Her body was sunken into the mattress, limbs heavy and throat thick. She was aware that there were several problems with her current situation, but for the life of her Naomi couldn't bring herself to get up, or even be overly concerned. She supposed that the past few weeks had desensitized her to strange situations, or perhaps the lack of coffee had finally caught up to her.

She sighed through her nose, and for a moment everything felt like a dream. Distantly, Naomi wondered if it actually was. But it couldn't have been. Naomi had never been a very vivid dreamer, and tended to forget things very quickly after she woke up. Besides, she didn't have the creativity to dream up getting drunk with Tony, or her late night talks with Loki, or the looks on everyone's faces just before she used the Space Stone. So no, Naomi figured it couldn't have been a dream.

She turned her head to the right, where she knew her alarm clock would be sitting on the bedside table. '1:46' it read. Not too concerning, Naomi had slept in later than that before. With a grunt, Naomi pulled her arms up to her sides to prop her up into a sitting position. However when she pressed her fingers into the mattress, a stiff jolt of pain forced her to stop. She pressed her lips together, opting instead to force herself upward without her arms support. Slumping over, Naomi looked down at herself, realizing she was still in the Asgardian armor she had worn into the battle. Another confirmation that she hadn't been dreaming, but her focus was quickly stolen away from her clothes by the white bandaging wrapped around her arms.

Naomi's head cleared as a wave of concern washed over her, biting her bottom lip nervously. What appeared to be medical tape was wrapped tightly around the entirely of her arms from the elbows down. She turned her arms over carefully, looking over the bandages with some suspicion. One thing was for sure, Naomi hadn't done them. Not only would she be unable to wrap her arms this well, she had no memory of doing it, and knew that she didn't keep medical tape in her apartment. It was concerning, yes, but for the moment Naomi pushed it aside and focused on her hands. She hadn't noticed at first, but her forearms felt heavier than usual, and her fingers were extremely stiff, making her wince anytime she tried to move them.

Still staring at her covered arms, Naomi considered that they were injured due to her use of the stone. In all honesty, she hadn't thought about the consequences of using an Infinity Stone before she had done it, she simply gripped onto the blue stone, and willed it to take her away. Reflecting, Naomi realized with a frown that she hadn't even thought about a location for the stone to bring her to. It was nothing short of a miracle that she survived using the stone, and ended up in her own home on top of it. She knew that she should be grateful, and Naomi was relieved that she wasn't dead, but the revelation that she was largely unharmed and in her own dimension simply stacked onto her worries.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Naomi swung her legs over the side of her bed, a vague panic setting into her. The full and total reality of the situation dawned upon her as she stood, stumbling slightly. Shit, she was in her own dimension, and shit everyone probably though she was dead. She probably should be, Naomi thought as she staggered out of her room, her thoughts becoming fast paced and abstract. She instinctually reached her hand up to run it through her hair, but flexing her fingers sent another stab of pain through her hand, so she let it fall lax with a wince.

"Shit." Naomi breathed, walking toward her kitchen. "Shit, shit, shit-"

There was a woman sitting at her table.

Naomi froze, staring at the stranger in her apartment. "What the shit?!"

The woman cocked an eyebrow at her crude language. She was older, perhaps in her late forties, with a tight face and severe bone structure. Her hair, black with a few hints of gray, was pulled back tightly, presumably into a bun. Her clothes matched her features, sharp and professional, a black suit with a crisp white collared shirt underneath. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, legs crossed, posture straight, staring out at Naomi with an analytical expression. "Ms. Naomi Swanson." She spoke, voice clear and direct.

Naomi felt like she was back in college, getting stared down by a professor for swearing in class. She gulped thickly before speaking. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman blinked, the only sign that she was annoyed by Naomi's colorful language. "You may refer to me as Smith. I represent an organization known as the Watchers. I understand you are familiar." She said bluntly. Naomi frowned- the Watchers? She had heard of them, of course, but only as a part of the Marvel universe. She remembered coming across some text post about one of Stan Lee's cameo's connecting to the Watchers.

"Um, I thought the Watchers was an alien race?" Naomi said, edging closer to the table. There was a cup of coffee at the seat across from the woman- Smith- that was devastatingly tempting. There was even a straw in it, clearly meant for Naomi since she doubted she could pick anything up with the state her hands were in.

"Your knowledge is limited, then, in this case, Ms. Swanson." Smith observed. She looked pointedly from Naomi to the empty chair, a clear sign that she was meant to take a seat. Naomi hesitantly complied as Smith began speaking again. "The Watchers began as a single race, yes, however over time, and with the discovery of the Multiverse, they developed into a functioning organization tasked with the purpose of observing and recording the knowledge of the various dimensions. Are you following?"

Naomi nodded, bouncing her leg up and down to try and shake out some of her nerves. It wasn't the strangest, or most dangerous predicament she had been in, but Naomi had had a long day, on top of a long couple of weeks. And her hands didn't work, another was a stranger in her apartment. And she was in her apartment-

"Good. It is currently my role to walk you through the next few steps of this process, and adequately prepare you for my departure." Smith spoke eloquently enough that Naomi felt the impression that she should have a British accent, though the woman's voice lacked any accent that Naomi could pin down. "Do you have any questions?"

Naomi thought for a second. "Um... is this coffee poisoned?"

"No."

Naomi hunched over, sucking in as much caffeine as she could before straightening up again. She honestly couldn't care about her reputation at this point, although Smith's gaze lacked judgement. "Okay, second question, did you wrap up my arms?"

She nodded once, "Yes. Once you activated the Space Stone, our team was able to pick you up from your location, and bring you to our base." Naomi's eyebrows shot up. So she hadn't just appeared back home, it had been the Watchers doing. "Our medical team was able to halt the progression of the infinite power through your body. Without their efforts, you would have assuredly died."

That was a bit blunt, but once again, Naomi was rather desensitized to strange happenings and perilous situation by this point. At least now, she thought as she sucked in some more coffee, she knew why she had survived, and ended up back home. She contemplated it for a moment, before looking back to Smith, who had been waiting before continuing her explanation. "After the medics had completed their task, you were entrusted to my care. I brought you here, and bonded your arms so that you might awake with some semblance of peace." Smith paused, thinking for a moment. "Understand, Ms. Swanson, that your hands are still operational, albeit physical therapy will be required. However the use of an Infinity Stone is not without consequences, so you must prepare yourself before removing the bandages."

Naomi pressed her lips together tightly, and nodded. Of course, some damage was to be expected, seeing as how she had used an Infinity Stone without being capable to contain its power. She was lucky the the Watchers had been there to ensure her survival. Naomi shuddered to think about what might have happened without them.

"Thank you, Smith. And tell the medics that I said thanks, too, please." Naomi said earnestly, still a bit shaken. Smith raised her eyebrows a fraction, and nodded. She seemed pleased, Naomi thought.

"Of course, Ms. Swanson."

"Call me Naomi, please."

Smith's eyebrows raised again, and if Naomi looked hard enough, she thought that she saw the ghost of a smile on the woman's harsh features. "Right then, Naomi, any more questions?"

Naomi chugged down the last of her cups contents before leaning back in her chair with a huff. "I have so many."