A/N: So, in addition to updating all my WIPs, I am also starting this new story.
Hah...
I blame two people. Omnicat, for reblogging a photo of Natalie Portman in forties looking clothing, which led to me dreaming up a scenario in which Jane goes back in time and falls in love with Bucky, and Vampi, for reading that post and then convincing me to turn it into a full story.
Thank you so much, you guys! I hope you and everyone else who happens to read this enjoys.
Darcy had the TV on again. It was a newly installed flat screen with HBO, a full sports package, and Netflix, all generously provided by their friends at SHIELD. Per Darcy, it was imperative to their research that they have full satellite HD TV, along with a state of the art coffee maker and new smartphones. That last one was an addendum after Jane's old equipment was returned. Darcy's iPod had gotten lost in transit.
That SHIELD had agreed to these demands was perplexing for all of five seconds. Then Agent Coulson sent her a shipment of shiny new computers and weather machines. She spent a week familiarizing herself with technology so advanced that it shouldn't even exist yet. Smartphones had to be like penny candy for these guys. As such, Jane didn't complain about the TV.
She did complain about Darcy keeping the TV on at all hours with the volume blasting.
"Darcy, whatever you're watching cannot be that important," Jane shouted as explosions and gunfire burst from the speakers. On screen, the Badass Action Hero TM wielded a gun twice his size and fired perfect shots into the swarm of mooks who couldn't seem to get a single shot in despite outnumbering him a hundred to one. He would have no trouble saving the president and getting the glamorous villainess to change her ways and jump into bed with him before the credits rolled. "Just turn it down!"
"What's the point of HD if I can't enjoy a surround sound movie watching experience?" Darcy hollered over another explosion. "Besides, I finished my work for the day."
"Then go take a walk or something. Get drunk. I don't care. I need to focus."
"You've been focusing non-stop all day! Why don't you go take a walk or get drunk?"
"Stop avoiding the iss- gah! Just forget it."
Jane bent over her laptop, the words blurring as she got too close. She typed fervently her thoughts on the most recent data, ignoring all spelling and grammatical errors. One of the movie's few quiet scenes started and of course Darcy chose that moment to complain to 'herself' about what a party pooper and workaholic her dear boss was.
"Once I get my bridge up and running, the last thing you'll be calling me is a party pooper," Jane said.
"But you are a workaholic?"
Jane took a long, deep breath. "Darcy, I appreciate your hard work and I'm happy to have you as an intern, but can you please watch something quieter?"
Darcy rolled her eyes before performing the arduous task of grabbing the remote control from the armrest. "I've already seen this movie anyway."
The front door opened, admitting a pale and disheveled Erik Selvig. He carried several thick folders under his arm and went immediately to the kitchen as Jane pulled up the web page containing the newest figures. As he got closer, his weary state became more apparent; his shirt wasn't buttoned correctly and he still had bed hair.
"Are you okay, Erik?" Jane asked.
His head jerked up. "Oh, there you are, Jane. Yes, I'm fine. Just need some coffee."
There was none left, but that coffee maker worked like it ran on rocket fuel. Two minutes later, Erik gulped down a freshly brewed cup and then retreated to the bathroom to wash up. He returned with wet hair and his same clothes on, but his eyes were fully open and his skin a healthier shade. He grabbed some more coffee before walking to her station.
"Hits the spot, doesn't it?" Jane said.
"I'm starting to appreciate SHIELD a lot more, that's for sure."
Jane frowned but said nothing. She tapped a few keys to bring up her star map. "Okay, so this is what I've been working on today. There haven't been any abnormal weather patterns since the last time the bridge opened, but by taking the data we already have, I think it's possible to isolate a possible origin point for the wormhole. Once we have that, we can track its progress."
"That's a bit ambitious for a week's worth of research," said Erik.
"Do you know who I am?" Jane smiled and reached across the table. "I already have a prototype in the works. It's just for channeling right now, meant to measure the atmospheric density. I did a test run last week when we had that sandstorm, and it picked up some interesting readings."
Erik looked like he wanted to kiss her. "Jane, you have brought me to shame again. I wish I could say I've been working half as hard on my research."
'That's why I told you not to take SHIELD's offer,' Jane thought. They'd already had that argument more times than she could count, so she kept the remark to herself for now. "I know it's a big statement to make, but based on my findings, I think we could have a workable model bridge within a year."
Erik nodded. "That is a huge statement. Way too huge for someone still working in the desert."
"Just because I took SHIELD's money doesn't mean they own me," Jane said. She opened the back of her handheld transmitter to check the wires one more time.
"I wish you'd be a little more trusting, Jane," Erik sighed. "I know their methods leave a lot to be desired, but when it comes down to it, they are working towards the greater go-"
"So, I've been doing a little extra reading." Jane rolled her swivel chair over to the stack of library books on the other end of her worktable. Most were marked up with colored post-it notes. Jane grabbed the one on top of the pile and wheeled back to Erik. "Just covering my bases; making sure there are no stones unturned when we start construction."
Erik read over her shoulder, his eyebrows shooting into his receding hairline. "Time travel? Don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?"
"We're talking about interrupting spacetime, Erik," Jane said, flipping to a chapter all the way in the back. "If there's even the slightest possibility of aggravating the flow of time, I want to know about it."
"But there is a difference between traveling to another world that exists in the same plane as us and traveling to a point of time in the past or future," said Erik.
"I'm not just talking about Back to the Future here. We don't know for sure if time on Asgard flows the same way it does on earth. What if Thor is only as old as he is because time moves so slowly in his realm that a year here is a century there?"
"If that were the case, Norse Mythology wouldn't exist."
"Unless he's even older than that. He could be thousands of years old for all we know. That means if one of us goes to Asgard and stays for a year their time, we could return and find ourselves in the twenty-fifth century."
"HASTA LA VISTA BABY!"
Gunfire rang through the air, making Jane jump and Erik clutch his chest. "DARCY!"
Darcy threw up her hands. "Sorry. I didn't know it was turned up that high."
"I'm going to throw that TV out the window as soon as she's asleep," Jane whispered to Erik. "And then I'm going to find the biggest rock I can and smash it to pieces."
"Just try not to wake her when you do it," Erik said.
"I can hear you in there!" Darcy shouted. She'd flipped channels once again and was now watching a news report. Fine by Jane. So long as it was quiet.
"Wouldn't it be interesting if we did figure out time travel in the middle of this?" Jane remarked. She read a few lines of Einstein's theories, completing every sentence in her head before she got to it.
"I'd go back to second grade and stop that one kid from pushing me in the mud on picture day," Darcy said. "Little bastard ruined my dress."
Trust Darcy to use the untapped power of the universe for revenge on a schoolyard bully.
"Let's focus first on what we already know is possible," said Erik. "Okay, Jane, last I checked, you were working on schematics for the bridge generator."
"I have a rough draft." Jane searched her endless list of folders for the file. "I'm still working out the logistics. My remote transmitter is part of it. It connects to a larger unit I have on the roof for redirecting atmospheric current."
"When did you build that?" Erik asked.
"Last Friday," Jane replied.
"It's Monday."
"I have a lot of free time on my hands."
"You're supposed to spend that time sleeping."
"Hey, super scientists!" Darcy's exclamation cut through the air, pulling Jane back to reality. She was ready to scold her intern again, but Darcy didn't give her a chance. "Sorry to interrupt, but you might want to rethink that whole 'time travel isn't real' thing."
On TV was an old black and white newsreel. The image was grainy, showing a group of men in military uniforms and combat gear, standing around a map making battle plans as patriotic music played over them. Nothing says America like going to war and shooting the Nazis. Indeed, the next shot showed a man in a star-spangled outfit knocking a sniper out of the trees with a shield he threw like a Frisbee. Another man in a more modest blue jacket fired took out three more with a sniper rifle. The last man standing fell to the shield as it ricocheted off an armored car and slammed into the back of his head.
"You interrupted us to watch a World War II documentary," said Jane.
"This isn't a documentary," Darcy said. "You're not going to believe this, but they just found Captain America."
She was right. Jane didn't believe it. Neither did Erik.
"It's been seventy years since he died, Darcy. If they found anything, it's probably just scraps of the plane he went down in."
"Au contraire, my friend." Darcy pointed at the screen with great flourish, all too happy to prove the scientist wrong. "They found him, and they found him alive."
The newsreel changed to a pair of modern reporters, all pearly whites and coiffed hair, talking over an exceptionally large lower third: 'Scientists recover cryogenically preserved Captain America. America's favorite son lives on!'
"We're being told now that Captain Rogers has woken up and is fully lucid. No word yet on where he is currently being held for debriefing or how he survived for so long under the ice. Scientists are currently speculating that the physical enhancements to his body may have been a contributing factor. So far, no official examination report has been released to the public. We'll keep you up to date as this incredible story unfolds. Until then, let's go back to our special retrospective of an American hero!"
"I'll be damned," said Erik, shaking his head. "They really found him."
"And he's alive," Darcy said like they hadn't just heard it from her and the TV five times. "Imagine, THE Captain America, here in our modern technological age. I should check twitter. It's must be trending like crazy."
She whipped out her phone, typing away without a care in the world. The film reels had resumed and now showed Captain America posing with his team of elite soldiers. Now there was something familiar. If Jane thought hard, she could almost go back to those far-off days of eleventh grade American history. The way her teacher endlessly lectured them about Normandy and D-Day while she snuck an Intro to Astrophysics text over her notebook. The study of the past would never compare for Jane to the study of what was and what might someday be. Maybe that was why she still didn't know Captain America's real name despite him being the mancrush of every history buff she'd ever met.
"Wow, there's already a poll going around on which photo showcases his ass best. I'm thinking… six? No, eight. Definitely eight, but six is a close second."
And Darcy apparently.
Her voice faded into the background as the documentary progressed to a scene of the Howling Commandoes at an award ceremony. They all stood in a line at attention, a politician pinning medals to their jackets. There was that man again, the one who'd been fighting with Captain America. He wore a standard uniform this time. He looked like a ranking officer. Maybe a sergeant or something. He was handsome, too. At least as far as Jane could tell from the blurry, colorless footage.
As he received his medal, something off camera caught his attention. He turned away from the camera. It suddenly didn't matter in the slightest that he was being filmed. His face split into a massive grin that made the skin around his eyes crinkle. His compatriots were consummate professionals, meeting their official reward for their services with a 'Thank you sir' and 'It's an honor sir'. When this man was thanked, he said nothing. He never turned his head back. Whoever he was looking at had to mean the world to him. Jane's heart skipped a beat, at which point she remembered that this video was seventy years old and she was way too old to get flustered over a pretty face.
Okay, well, she'd been flustered over Thor, but that was different. Thor was part of a mystery she'd dedicated her life to solving. Who wouldn't be giggly over that?
"All right, this was fun, but I need to get back to work." Jane followed her proclamation by marching back to her desk after a quick detour to get more coffee.
"Always work, work, work with her," Darcy complained to Erik as if that would help. "If you ask me, she needs a vacation."
"I'll take a vacation when my bridge is complete," Jane said. She picked up her transmitter and held it up to the gentle breeze flowing in through the window.
"Just promise me when you find your guy, you'll get yourself laid as soon as possible," Darcy said. "Because no offense, Jane, but you need it."
"No offense taken," Jane muttered. She tapped on the screen. The transmitter was taking an extra six seconds to complete calculations. "I'm going to do some program rewrites tomorrow. Make sure all the measurements are correct. The goal is to have one of these ten times bigger and a hundred times stronger."
"Well, you're off to a good start. Now we need a way to stabilize the wormhole."
"That's next on my agenda." Jane searched her computer for the files on stabilization. They were far scarcer, as she hadn't had time yet to determine how they would regulate the current to allow for safe travel. She'd seen Asgard's Bifrost exactly twice, and the first time she'd missed all the good parts thanks to her foolish belief that it was just an ordinary storm. "We're going to have to put a lot more hours into this. The last thing we want is to end up stranded in some far-off corner of the universe."
"Or stuck in the past," said Darcy. "Imagine having to take the slow way back."
"We're not talking about time travel anymore, Darcy," said Erik. "I know this whole thing with Captain America is exciting, but there's a big difference between cryogenics and time machine Toyotas."
"It was a DeLorean. Have you even seen that movie?"
Erik didn't dignify that with a response, but as Jane typed in a few numbers and found nothing but roadblocks and missteps, she almost wished he would.
"It would be something else if we managed it," she thought aloud, drumming her fingers on the keyboard. "You ever thought about what you'd do if you could go back in time, Erik?"
She expected him to sigh again like an overworked parent and have nothing to say except that it was time to get their heads out of the clouds and back to their real work. While he did sigh and he did pull up a chair next to her, the next words out of his mouth had nothing to do with trans-dimensional bridge manufacturing.
"Emily…"
Jane blinked. "What?"
Erik, who'd been staring wistfully out the window, shook his head. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking… about an old friend of mine."
"Erik's got a girlfriend," Darcy sang.
Jane glared at her, which only made Darcy hum more quietly.
"Well, yes, she was my girlfriend in college," Erik coughed and loosened his collar. "She was a botany student at the University where I did my undergraduate. We were together for a while, but eventually, I realized it wasn't going to work. She wanted marriage and stability, and I wanted to travel. She was doing well last I heard. Her husband's a small town lawyer."
"And you wish you could go back and do things differently?" asked Jane. "Try to make things work with Emily?"
"If I did that, it would erase her children," said Erik. "It would erase all of my accomplishments. I wouldn't have been there all the times you needed me." He patted her hand, a gesture, funnily enough, that reminded Jane of her father. "I don't believe in a higher power, Jane, but I do believe we all have a path in life. Maybe I wish I could've had more time with Emily, but I cherish what we did have. I wouldn't change it for anything. That's why you shouldn't worry about the past. Now's the time to look towards the future."
"Nice fortune cookie wisdom there, Erik!" Darcy shouted. The special report on Captain America had come to an end, and she was back to channel surfing. Every other station seemed to be running another action movie or a rock concert.
"Tonight," Jane said through grit teeth. "Tonight, I swear."
Erik helpfully placed himself between Jane and her view of Darcy. "Anyway, did you get the letter from SHIELD's science division about the latest grant payout?"
"It's on the coffee table. I only skimmed it. Why? Is there a problem?"
"They just need you to sign a couple of things," said Erik. "Darcy, could you hand it to me?"
"Sure thing." She snatched up the white envelope with the official looking seal on the back. It had been ripped carelessly as Jane was never one to use letter openers. The fact that a super hi-tech secret agency like SHIELD still used snail mail had been a never-ending source of bafflement. Before giving the letter to Erik like a good intern, Darcy took it upon herself to inspect the return address. "What the hell is 'Cinderhouse'? I thought this came from SHIELD."
"Cinderhouse is the name of the building where they conduct astrophysical research," said Jane.
"That's weird. I would've expected something more science-y."
"I don't know. I didn't pick it." Jane got up to retrieve the letter herself, as Darcy's inaction made it clear she intended to remain a couch potato for the rest of the evening.
She did, at least, turn the TV off and switch to texting her friends. The frequent yet soft tapping of keys was a boon on Jane's abused eardrums. From there, it wasn't long before she and Erik fell into the zone, writing out new equations and calculations for the next step in creating Earth's Bifrost. They didn't speak much, working in synchronicity well into the night. The moon was high in the sky by the time Erik started yawning.
"I think I'm going to turn in," he said.
Jane checked the clock. It was barely midnight. "Already?"
"I'm not as young as I used to be, you know," he said. "You should get some sleep, too. I mean it this time."
It was a good thing Darcy had been snoring on the couch for the last two hours. Otherwise, this conversation would go on forever and then Jane wouldn't work or sleep. It was a lose-lose situation all around.
"I'll try," she promised. If Erik doubted her word, he was too tired to say so. He patted her shoulder and retired to his room for the night.
Without him to bounce ideas off or Darcy to bug her, the minutes dragged on and Jane found herself closing her eyes to 'think' more and more. She pressed on regardless, the answer to her most recent problem on the tip of her tongue. She just knew it was. She solved it in five minutes and then spent the next five writing the same set of numbers out three times in the same formula. Maybe it was time for her to get some rest.
Jane turned off all the lights and set her computer to sleep mode. Then she left her tiny lab and crossed the sand to reach her trailer. The wind blew in her face making her hair whip around in her eyes. She lowered her head and ran the rest of the way. The forecast hadn't said anything about a storm brewing. It would probably be even worse on the roof with her generator model, and yet that was exactly where Jane found herself a half an hour later.
Somehow, a plastic lounge chair was more comfortable than a bed. Not that the spring filled lump in her trailer should ever be counted as such, but at least it had a mattress. Still, Jane was a night owl at heart. In college, she had to take all evening classes due to her nightly stargazing sessions that had her sleeping in until well past noon. If Erik was any indication, this was not a habit that faded with age. It made more sense for her to sleep sitting up, just in case some abnormal readings came in and she had to be awake and ready in a hurry.
It was a warm night, but not too warm. The wind brought with it a cool breeze that felt like heaven on her skin. She liked to think, after living in Puente Antiguo for close to a year, that she'd adjusted to the arid climate. Then she remembered Izzy, who had been here for most of her life. She was always wishing for a great flood to come and wash over the town.
Another gust of wind activated the motion sensor in Jane's transmitter. As it was calculating, she counted backward from ten. By the time she reached one, it should be finished.
"Three… two… one… one-half… one-third… one-quarter…"
It beeped approximately three seconds later, flashing 'DATA INCONCLUSIVE' like the mocking sneer of an old professor.
"Of course…" Jane dropped her arm to her side, letting the transmitter slip between her fingers. She glanced at the generator prototype, but apart from confirming the smaller module's lack of confirmation, it remained inactive.
With nothing else to do until morning, Jane laid back to watch the stars. Every time she longed for a decent Chinese food place or a proper library, she remembered the Puente Antiguo sky, bigger and more beautiful than anywhere else. The thousands of stars forming constellations she'd know with her eyes closed. This was what made it all worth it. This was why she never left even when everyone doubted her, and thank goodness for that.
It was strange to think how drastically things had changed since Thor arrived. Now she had more funding than she knew what to do with and a real shot at achieving her dreams. That it would be done under the government's thumb and she'd likely spend decades fighting her way through political red tape and bureaucracy was a matter for another day. For now, Jane's thoughts were consumed by the cacophony of new worlds they would find. She still had Thor's drawing of Yggdrasil, but as extensive as he made it sound, there had to be more to it. More than even the Aesir knew. So much it would make her head spin.
To think, she was going to be the one to open the door to the universe for all of humanity. At least in theory.
Because again, red tape.
Jane's eyes grew heavy again. Just when she thought she'd staved off the need for sleep. The last time she slept up here, it was with Thor beside her. It had been a nice night. A real eye-opener, and not just in scientific terms. Jane hadn't had a relationship since Donald Blake, nor had she ever kissed a man she barely knew. A swinging party girl, she was not, but Thor just had a way about him. That puppylike sweetness even before he turned out to be an actual Norse god. She didn't think anyone could've resisted that.
It left her with one more bullet point on the list of things to seriously consider at some point other than now. What their relationship could be without the intense, life or death situations. If they just sat down together and did nothing but talk. Could it be like that night in front of the fire before the chaos of the next day? Or would they find that there was nothing keeping them together beyond circumstance?
She'd never cared for fairy tale princes when she was a kid. She thought that if she ever fell in love it would be with someone like her. Someone normal. Someone like that man in the old newsreel.
'Just watch the stars, Jane,' she told herself, her eyes fluttering and her thoughts clouding. 'Just… watch the…'
The cry of several mechanical whines in perfect congress preceded a clap of thunder. Jane rolled off her deck chair with a shriek of surprise. She got tangled in her blanket, one end caught under her foot creating a pocket around it. So much for being ready in a hurry.
"What the hell?" Jane mumbled, rubbing her head. "Must've fallen asleep."
She got free of the blanket and grabbed her transmitter. It was still nighttime, perhaps a little closer to dawn. There was no sun visible on the horizon but there wouldn't be. Not with the thick, gray storm clouds forming overhead.
"Are you kidding me?" Jane moaned as the first drop of rain smacked her forehead.
If nothing else, she could comfort herself knowing that all her new equipment was waterproof. The transmitter had started up again, beeping furiously as it processed more data than the hard drive could process. The wind knocked her back a step, rainfall building in intensity as lightning flashed. Jane threw the blanket over her head, but it was already soaked and provided little protection. The base generator was going haywire. This was the first time it had ever been out in a storm like this, and for all that logic dictated she should go downstairs immediately, Jane did not budge. She held the transmitter over her head, trying to get a better signal. The influx of information slowed it down even more, but as long as it didn't short circuit, that was fine with her. A successful test run and some substantial data would make a few days of runny noses and chicken soup well worth it.
A bolt of lightning struck in front of the building next door. It was there and gone in a flash, but Jane's transmitter caught every nanosecond. The readings spiked and the device grew hot in her hand, but that was nothing compared to the base generator. It was working at a speed that seemed unreal even for a supercomputer. Every light was turned on, the screen blowing up with numbers. From far away, it would look like a professional light show, and Jane had to cover her eyes before she was blinded.
The next lightning strike made it a moot point. Like time had stopped, she followed its path from the sky to the main antenna of her base generator. Thunder roared like gunfire, the wind throwing her this way and that. The blanket whipped off Jane's shoulders into the air. She squeezed her transmitter with a white knuckled grip as it continued to pulse and screech.
Sparks exploded from the generator. Jane fell back to avoid them. Her sharp labored breaths seemed thicker than they should be. Almost like two voices layered on top of each other. Then someone's breath hitched. Someone who wasn't her.
Except when she looked into the wide brown eyes of the person now sharing the roof with her, it very much was her. Same clothes, same face. Same rectangular remote pressed tightly between two hands.
"Wha-" Jane's throat closed. "What are you…"
The double was silent; she gave Jane not but a glance before lowering her eyes. They were the only thing unfamiliar to Jane. The color was the same, but they were older. Like she knew something Jane didn't. Jane never had a chance to find out which it was. Every single light on the base generator flashed, making a noise she knew she hadn't programmed it to make. Endless numbers flashed across her transmitter's screen as it connected wirelessly to the generator. What happened next defied every bit of scientific knowledge Jane possessed, but the burst of light engulfed her body, pulling the world out from under her feet. Then she was falling.
Falling…
Falling…
Falling…
The light vanished, and the thunderstorm went with it. Jane was on her back watching the stars again. They danced in circles for her, so pretty and bright and far away. Much farther than they'd been a second ago. Why wasn't she on the roof anymore? Maybe that light combined with the wind had forced her over the ledge. It would've made perfect sense if she could see her lab.
In fact, most of the buildings that should've been in her peripheral vision weren't there. She thought about turning her head, but none of her muscles would obey her. Her whole body was stiff and ached like she'd been hit by a truck. Fortunately, she wasn't alone. Someone was coming closer and shouting at her. Jane opened her mouth and a weak hiss issued forth. Just enough to let them know she was alive. That would have to do for now. Her head was killing her and she clearly hadn't gotten enough sleep before that pesky thunderstorm showed up. She should close her eyes for a minute.
Yeah, just one minute.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" She shook the woman's prone body, waving a hand in her face to gauge a reaction. She wouldn't get one and she knew it. The woman was alive but out cold. One couldn't blame her for trying, though. "Miss, are you all right?"
In between attempts to rouse the mystery woman, she checked once or twice that the massive white light she'd dropped down from hadn't returned. How such a phenomenal and extraterrestrial event hadn't woken anyone up was beyond her. She should be hearing the alarms galore by now. There should be a dozen soldiers rushing out in their pajamas, weapons drawn and ready for battle. Hell, she'd been ready to open fire before the woman appeared. The woman in men's clothes who, upon further inspection, carried identification listing a birthdate that wouldn't occur for another thirty-eight years.
To think, this was supposed to be Peggy's night off.