Disclaimer: I don't own Thor, the characters or anything Marvel. If I did, do you think I'd be writing fanfiction?
Jane stepped out of the black sedan and stared at her surroundings in awe. All around her were towering skyscrapers and the streets were occupied with several people bustling there way chattering to whomever they were with or on their phones. There were shops and restaurants up and down the busy city street and the many scents and aromas filled her senses.
She smiled, knowing exactly where she was at.
New York City, or really, Manhattan.
As Jane thought about it, she had never really been to the city before. Eric had told her that she had been there once with her parents when she was an infant, but that was written out of her memory.
This was all new to her and she was starting to not mind the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D had showed up at her lab all of the sudden the other night and told her that she was needed immediately in the city at S.H.I.E.L.D's main base. She had come alone without Darcy or Eric.
Darcy had gone back to her university nearly two months ago and Eric had flown to Chicago to meet with some of his colleagues, and agent Coulson explained to Jane that Nick Fury only needed her anyways.
A slam brought Jane's attention back and caused her to turn around to see that Tony Stark had closed the door of the sedan while still texting animatedly on his touch screen.
She raised a brow at him as he placed the device back into his pocket and came up to wrap his arm around her shoulder, walking her towards the door to the bookstore that was right in front of them.
Jane didn't miss neither of the times that Stark kept glancing behind his shoulder, as if waiting for someone to attack him.
"Alright sweetheart," He began as he dropped his arm back to his side and looked around the bookstore. "Take your time to look around and buy whatever you like, just tell the people to bill me."
Stark then turned to walk out the store, pulling out his phone once again.
"W-Wait!" Jane stuttered. "You're just leaving me here alone? What about Coulson?"
Stark turned around briefly to give her a smile, "I'll deal with him, you just enjoy yourself for a while and get whatever you need because I have a feeling once you get to the base, you won't be leaving it for a while."
With a wave, he walked out the door and stepped back in the sedan which pulled out into the traffic the moment the door closed.
Jane took Stark's advice by taking her time as she casually strolled down one of the isles with already a few books inside of a shopping basket that one of the employees had given her upon her request.
A small part of her thought that they should've given her a cart since she was a bookworm and loved to read, but figured she'd come to that bump in the road when the basket she was currently holding became full.
When a book that looked interesting on the top shelf had caught her attention, she stopped and placed the basket on the ground while eyeing the distance as if the bookshelf was challenging her.
Childishly, she began to jump up and down in attempt to reach the book, too proud and stubborn to ask an employee for a step ladder.
Why do I have to be so short? She huffed as she then stood on the tips of her toes to try to reach the book again but it was still out of her reach by a couple of inches.
As she was about to began cursing her maker for creating her to be so short, a large pale hand had brushed passed her fingers and grabbed the exact book that she had been struggling to reach.
"Is this what you were trying to obtain?" A smooth, calm and delicate voice asked as she was handed the book.
"Oh yes! Thank y-" Jane's stopped in mid-sentence as her eyes trailed up the stranger's body.
First, she spotted his shiny black dress shoes and then the matching black dress pants - her gaze moving quicker when they eyed his pelvic region. He wore an knee-length black cashmere coat with a collared white shirt and black tie underneath.
There was a walking cane at his side but by the way he held it up off the ground, she didn't think he had any problems walking on his own.
He was towering over her small body as he was a head taller than her. He had shoulder-length, wild raven hair of a color so deep that it was nearly blue, looking remarkably well with his angular and pale face . His eyes were the most beautiful shade of emerald green that she had ever seen with perfect black eyebrows. He had a noble nose, cheekbones and chin and a firm yet thin mouth that was curved up in a small smile.
There was no way that the man was a local, she assumed and guessed that he must've come from somewhere overseas.
When she realized that she had been silent longer than she should've been, she shook her head and smiled up at him, trying to keep her blush at bay. "Thank you."
The man bowed his head in her direction. "It's my pleasure to help a beautiful woman such as yourself while in a moment of distress."
Jane had to keep herself from giggling like a schoolgirl as she pulled back some of hair behind her ear and glanced anywhere but at his striking green eyes that looked at her with amusement.
"This kind of thing tends to happen to me a lot, with me being so short and all."
Then he chuckled and something about it made her heart skip a beat.
"Tell me, are you visiting this city for business or pleasure?" He questioned, not taking his eyes off of her which made her fidget a little.
"For business." Jane replied.
A girlish screech came from behind her, which made Jane turn around to see that outside the window of the bookstore was a woman smiling brightly as she held a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates and a man kissing her forehead and smiling just as brightly.
Jane rolled her eyes.
She had nearly forgotten that it was Valentine's Day.
In fact, she was hoping to forget about this holiday completely since she was single and knew that there wouldn't be any cards, flowers, or chocolates for her on this day.
Now that she paid attention, there were parts of the store that were decorated in the bright red and pink colors along with many hearts in celebrating the holiday of love.
Being a woman of science, she never had the time for boyfriends and that had caused her to be alone quite frequently each passing Valentine's Day - besides once when she had been in middle school. She never minded but a tiny part of her almost wished that for once she could be one of those women smiling at all of the many gifts given to her by a lover.
Remembering that the man was still standing in front of her, she directed her attention back to him.
"How about yourself?" She cleared her throat and smiled politely up at him. "Are you here for business or pleasure?"
"It's a little bit of…both."
"I suppose for at the time being though, it's for pleasure." The man's lip drew back in a wicked way that wrinkled his nose and twisted Jane's stomach uneasily.
His eyes held nothing but amusement but there was something deeper that she couldn't quite place, something that felt like…danger.
Then, his eyes flickered upwards and his grin dropped slightly before his gaze came back to her.
"Unfortunately Ms. Foster, I'm afraid that this is where we will have to part ways for now."
Jane's eyebrows furrowed, taking a single step back away from him. "How did you…"
Once again she was unable to finish her sentence as the man held out his hand towards her, a single rose that must've been carved out of ice was being held delicately between his fingers.
Too lost in it's beauty, she couldn't resist but grab the stem and was fully surprised that the rose felt neither cold nor melting from the warmth that the inside of the store radiated. The rose made from ice that she held in her hand was something completely out of this world.
"Who are you?" She glanced back up at him not really sure what her emotions were interpreting.
He smirked mischievously as the words came out of his mouth evenly that had chilled Jane to the bone, her chest locking up.
"Loki."
She was unable to move, unable to speak.
Loki…
Thor's younger brother, the man that the God of Thunder had left her to go and fight nearly a year ago. The very man that Stark had told her about that had escaped from S.H.I.E.L.D's brief capture and had made an attempt to steal the cosmic cube once.
The cosmic cube was currently locked up under observation and protection in the very place that Jane was going, and Loki was in the same city that S.H.I.E.L.D's main base resided.
She had to warn Stark, Coulson, somebody that he was in the bookstore with her.
As if someone had answered her prayers, somewhere in the background she had heard Stark's almost cheerful voice. "Hey sweetheart, sorry to cut this short but Coulson sounded like he wants to put a bullet in me if we don't get to the compound in the next twenty minutes."
She knew he didn't see her yet by the tone of his voice, but it sounded like he was drawing nearer as he scanned the isles for her.
Her eyes came back to Loki who had suddenly leaned close to her. His nose touched her temple and she felt his icy breath in her ear.
His words, the way he had said it and the way his lips had felt against her skin had sent shivers up and down her spine before he had vanished from her sight with a single blink.
"Happy Valentine's Day."
A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I apologize that this fic is short and there isn't a whole lot of Lokane "action" in this but I wrote this in sort of a rush because it's after 8pm and the holiday is almost over. I thought that at least some kind of fic would be nice to read though of course. The sequel to Possession is on it's way as well as another smutty Lokane fic! Just give me a little bit of time since I've just been hired by Sea World so my time is occupied some days out of the week. Also, I apologize for any errors if spotted. I'll get to them when I have the time!
Have a wonderful day!
