When Thor left Jane waited and watched the sky. It quickly blackened, the wind whipped up and rain pelted down. The gods were angry. And she stood there petrified, not knowing what else to do, but knowing that she couldn't leave and find shelter. He said he would return to her and her feet stood, locked in place, waiting. Lightning crashed, not far from the landing site and she was drenched to the bone, her clothes clinging to her like a second skin. And she waited. A loud roar of thunder clapped in the sky above her head and there was nothing. The earth was still and silent, the sky turned from black to blue, the storm clouds dissipated and sun shone through. Nature's fury was suddenly over. Only there had been nothing natural about this occurrence and she worried.

Jane took comfort in the fact that Darcy and Eric were there staring up at the sky with her. When night fell and the evening turned cold it was Eric that stated that it was time to go. Both he and Darcy saw the look of anger in her eyes, but she felt it to her core.

'I'm not leaving him Eric'

'He's not here Jane, he's there' pointing to the sky, 'You're not sitting beside a hospital bed waiting for him to wake up, your waiting for him to come back! He knows where the lab is and he will return there when he can. All three of us need to get inside and warm before we catch our death' He looked Jane in the eyes and walked over and took her hand. He made a funny 'squidging' noise when he walked from the water in his boots, a remnant from the storm. 'It's time to go'

She let herself be dragged back to the lab. A large pot of coffee was brewed awaiting Thor's arrival and for the three to drink. Hot showers, towels and clean dry clothes, left Eric and Darcy falling asleep on the sofa that was kept in the sparse lab.

Jane however could not sleep. She escaped to the roof and the brisk desert air, fire built and casting it warm golden light over the area. She sat on her old lawn chair staring at his empty chair re running the events of the last couple of days in her mind. The last thing she remembered before she dozed was his smiling face.

The dawn woke her; the chair next to her was still empty.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Intelligence should never be thought of as a hindrance, but it can be hard trying to connect to someone, finding a common ground, feeling like you belong. Jane had always felt older than her years, and it made her quiet and slightly withdrawn, having been shunned by the general public about her work by those that lack understanding, stargazing apparently not seen as a viable career. It wasn't hard when Jane received her grant from the university to pack up everything and move to the New Mexico desert. She had nothing to really leave behind.

Jane's father had been a professor at one of the most respected universities in America. Having ignored the pins and needles in his right arm, he collapsed and died of a stroke the middle of one of his own lectures when she was 21. A plaque was placed in the room in his remembrance to honor him. But it meant more to the students that he taught and the people that he worked with, than Jane. She just wanted her father back.

Her mother was a physicist, who died when she was twelve, right at the age that she needed her. After her death Jane spent a lot of time, staring at the stars, talking to her mother like she was listing. It wasn't until the pain started to ebb, that she noticed the differences in the night sky and began to want to learn more. To this day, she still felt close to her mother under the night sky. Maybe it was another reason she liked the roof so much and why it was her own private escape. She felt at peace.

Loneliness is a powerful thing. Staring at that empty lawn chair hurt Jane in more ways than she thought possible. She had kissed Thor when he needed to leave. It was sudden and unexpected, she didn't even think. It just happened and she felt whole. For the first time, she felt loved, respected and wanted. It was only human of her to want it back.

She now had proof of what had only been theory and though Jane would wait for Thor to return, in the mean time. It was time to figure out how to make a bridge of her own.