ONE-SHOT

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2014:
ANOTHER CHRISTMAS

THOR/JANE one shot, requested by vampygurl402

"Yes, Darcy, that's amazing…"

"…"

"Lovely…."

"…"

"I know… I'm sorry, but we'll come to London next year…"

"…"

"Yes, I know London's great during Christmas!"

"…"

"Maybe…"

"…"

"No, I haven't changed my ringtone yet…"

"…"

"Because you stole the manual!"

"…"

"Yes, I still have to explain some things to him…"

"…"

"How hard can it be, it's only Christmas…"

"…"

"Aargh… Darcy, please!"

"…"

"Look, I have to go! Send my regards to Ian… And Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year…"

"…"

"You too… Bye Bye!"

With a loud sigh, Jane pressed the red button of her smartphone. She closed her eyes and breathed out while letting her head rest on the back of the couch. It was nine o'clock in the morning, New York City, which made it somewhere around two o'clock in London, United Kingdom. Still, Darcy, Jane's amazingly hyperactive and talkative intern didn't seem too worried about the time difference or the fact that Jane only went to bed around three in the morning after what already had been a very long day.

Jane groaned. Why was moving to their new apartment so incredibly tiring!

A sudden sound made Jane open her eyes. Upside down, she watched her brand new television screen walk through the door. She smiled when her brand new husband's head appeared from behind it.

"Darcy?" The God of Thunder asked. Jane groaned and nodded.

"You should be sleeping, sweetheart…" Thor said while putting the television screen down next to some boxes filled with glasses and plates.

Jane sighed and set up straight. "I was sleeping, until Darcy called! And I can't sleep in this mess anyway! It's worse than my lab!"

Thor laughed and set down next to his new wife.

"Well, now that Tony asked you to work with him, you'll have the all the place you'll need! His Labradors are huge!"

"Laboratories, Thor…" Jane corrected with a smile, but her eyes turned foggy, thinking about the new possibilities she would have using Stark's equipment.

"Did Tony already mention why he wants your help?" Thor asked after a short silence.

Jane closed her tired eyes and shook her head before letting it rest on her husband's shoulder.

"No…" she said while suppressing a huge yawn. "But actually I don't care. I'm glad I can work in one of his labs…"

It stayed silent for a couple of minutes before Thor softly kissed Jane on the head and got back on his feet.

"I'm going to get the last boxes out of the car…" he said.

"I'll help you…" Jane said while getting up, but Thor immediately pushed her back on the couch.

"I got it! You stay here and rest a little…"

Jane softly smiled and watched her husband walk out the door again. She looked around. This mess was giving her a claustrophobic feeling!

Jane walked to the kitchen and watched the never sleeping city of New York. She had to admit, the view from their apartment was wonderful! Outside, the streets, trees, skyscrapers… everything was covered with a sparkling layer of fluffy snow.

It will be a white Christmas… Jane thought. She looked around the empty room. Only the kitchen table was already in place, covered with boxes. Jane decided to look for some food. Maybe she could find herself some breakfast. In fact, she was rather hungry.

Unfortunately, none of the boxes contained any kind of food. Jane remembered they'd decided not to pack any in the first place. Jane sighed and looked back at the city skyline. Everywhere she looked, she spotted flickering Christmas lights, beautiful Christmas trees, fake Santa's, sleds,… But her own house wasn't decorated at all. It was dark, messy and covered in dust. Jane looked down, a bad idea she realised afterwards. She'd forgotten how high their new apartment was. Jane stumbled back, trying to stop her head from spinning. Suddenly she didn't feel that hungry any more, but rather sick.

Jane sighed. She was so tired, but it was Christmas! Not to mention, Thor's first Christmas on Earth! It had to be a special one! But how was she going to do that…

Thor stumbled back in, carrying three boxes at once. His long, blond hair was covered with tiny snowflakes, indicating it'd started snowing again.

"I didn't feel like walking twice…" he said while putting the boxes down. "I met that parakeet-obsessed cat lady downstairs. She seems… nice…"

Jane turned around and tried to smile, despite of the ongoing sickening feeling in her stomach. What was wrong with her? She wasn't going to be sick now, was she?

"Mrs. Lumiere…" Jane said with smile. "Her name's Mrs Lumiere!"

Thor raised his eyebrows and smirked. Jane sighed.

"She's very lonely you know… Her husband died!"

"Yeah, she mentioned that, about a million times already…"

Jane laughed. "I'm just saying that those birds and cats are the only company she has!"

Thor nodded. "Which is why I keep calling her a parakeet-obsessed cat lady…"

Jane couldn't help but smile.

Thor made his way towards his wife and took her in his arms before kissing her.

"So… why don't you tell me what this Christmas thing is… It seems I can't take two steps without tripping over some wannabe elf trying to sell me something."

Jane sighed and looked up at Thor's face.

"You seriously have no idea what it means?" she asked.

The God of Thunder shook his head. "No, we don't have that on Asgard…"

Jane chose her words carefully.

"Christmas…" she started while walking around the kitchen to open one of the newly arrived boxes. "is a time you spend together with friends and family…"

"Which we are not doing…" Thor added with a smile. Jane threw her husband a meaningful look.

"It doesn't have to be a big crowd…" she tried.

"Well, if we have to spend time with friends…" Thor said. "We can always go to Stark…"

Jane almost dropped the box she was looking in.

"No way!" she exclaimed. "And let him show off! No thank you!"

"Jane, according to the elf I trampled, it's already Christmas tonight…"

"I'll figure something out!" Jane interrupted. "It's your first Christmas, it's going to be perfect!"

For a couple of second, Jane and Thor just stared at each other, not really knowing what to say next.

Jane cleared her throat. Where was she supposed to start anyway?

"Right!" she shouted while pouncing her fist on the table. "I'm gonna do this!"

Thor smirked. "I'll leave you to it then…"

"You do that!"

"Anything I can help you with?"

"No no no…." Jane immediately shouted. "I can do this!"

Thor smiled and took a chair standing against the wall so he could sit down. Jane turned around, looking at the empty wall of the kitchen.

"What exactly do you have to do?" Thor asked after a short while.

"Well…" Jane replied, rubbing her hands together. "First we need a bit of errr… cosiness…"

Jane ran over to a box in the living room and didn't return until she'd found herself some candles and a matchbox. She put the candles on the dusty table and lit them one by one. The little flames flickered in the morning sun.

"Eeer… normally, people have a Christmas tree with presents, but I suppose…"

Jane thought for a minute. Her eyes lit up with hope. "We could do some last minute Christmas shopping!"

"I'm sorry, Jane, but everything seemed to be closed today…."

"Right… it's Christmas…"

A deep frown appeared on Jane's forehead, but almost immediately she got a new idea.

"Well, we can at least try to get our hands on a Christmas meal!"

Thor looked up in surprise. "You have a special Christmas meal?"

Jane nodded while getting up to search her phone she'd left on the couch.

"Yes! It's common to eat turkey on Christmas!"

Thor frowned and watched his wife enter the kitchen again. "Turkey? Isn't that a country?"

"Yes, yes…." Jane answered vaguely while searching for a phone book before realising she could just use the internet on her smartphone.

Thor shook his head. "Wait…. You eat a country? Or do you mean the people of Turkey? Which would still be rather cannibal-ish..."

Jane looked up. "Sorry, what?" she asked, not quite sure she'd understood Thor correctly. "A turkey is also bird, stupid!" she explained with a smile.

"Oh… I see…." Thor said, feeling rather confused. "A bird and a country…."

"Yes!"

"Right… that makes sense!" Thor answered sarcastically. Jane rolled her eyes and focused back on her phone.

"It must be huge!"

Jane shook her head. "What, a turkey?"

Thor nodded. "I mean, if you eat it on a banquet… It must a be a bit bigger than a pigeon…"

Jane wasn't quite following. "Well… yes.. yes it is bigger than a pigeon, but not exactly huge either… and we don't have a banquet, it's just one bird, for one family…"

"But you said Christmas is a time of celebration?" Thor said.

"Yes, but…." Jane started, but she saw Thor wasn't going to get it that easy. So she set down and looked her husband in the eye.

"Look sweetheart, I know that on Asgard, when there's a feast, you get a banquet to choose from, but on Earth, we don't usually have that… just one meal, for everyone…"

Thor thought about that and finally nodded. "Actually, that's a lot more practical… We always had way to much food left! Of course Volstagg could take care of that..."

Jane smiled and set back. She felt as if she was talking to a five year old, but somewhere she had to admit that Thor was doing great. In the last few months, he'd faced the greatest and most difficult task in his whole life: understanding… everything! Every now and then, Jane was reminded that Thor would never fully belong here.

"Anyway! Hush now! I'm gonna try call someone who can help us get a last minute turkey!"

Jane spend the whole day calling different numbers, but every time conversations ended with:

"I'm too late?… no no, I understand… thank you for your trouble…"

Or sometimes…

"That's wonderful!... What?... Next year!"

Or after about a hundred phone calls…

"Can't you go catch another one!... Hello?"

When the sun started setting, Jane sank down on the chair at the kitchen table. That's when she noticed the table was clean. No more boxes, no more dust... In front of her stood a steaming mug of delicious smelling coffee. The boxes in the kitchen had disappeared and the fridge and kitchen-range where standing in place. Jane looked up. Thor was sitting across her with his own mug of delicious smelling coffee and a huge friendly grin on his face. In the middle of the table stood a plate covered with all kinds of cookies.

Jane locked her eyes with Thor's, not knowing what to say.

"Time to celebrate Christmas, shall we?" Thor said with a smile. Jane smiled and looked at the plate.

"Where…" she stuttered.

"Mrs. Lumiere…" Thor answered. "She knocked on the door. 'Merry Christmas!' she said. 'And welcome to your new apartment!'"

Jane's mouth hang open and it seemed she was never going to close it again.

"Thor, honey… This is amazing… Did you do this all by yourself? I mean, the cleaning and all that stuff?"

Thor smiled proudly. "You deserved a proper Christmas present!"

"But I don't have anything for you!" Jane answered. A sudden sad expression covered her face.

"I'm so sorry Thor! I completely messed up your first Christmas! It was supposed to be perfect! Aaargh… This is all my fault! Why did I want to move so soon!"

"Oh, I don't know…. " Thor said with a smile. "To be completely honest, I don't think I would have survived living with Darcy, Ian and Selvig much longer…."

Jane smiled softly. "I'm so sorry, Thor…"

Thor sighed. "I tell you what… we drink our coffee, we eat our way through Mrs. Lumiere's cookies supply and then, as a Christmas present, you join me for a walk. Just you and me and Christmas New York… What do you say?"

Jane smiled. She couldn't believe she'd let herself being carried away like that… Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she still felt a bit sick, although those cookies looked sublime….

"That sounds marvellous!" Jane said while raising her mug.

"That's my wife!" Thor roared while hitting his mug against Jane's.

Both of them drank the coffee until the last drop as if it was a drinking contest.

Jane looked at her husband, he looked back at her….

They were both thinking the same…

They raised their cups and…

"ANOTHER!"


MERRY CHRISTMAS! (I know, I'm late... but let us just ignore that...)

I would like to wish every single one of you a great Christmas and of course a Happy New Year! Without you, guys, I wouldn't be writing this, so I also want to thank all of you for your loyal reading, and of course for the amazing reviews!

I hope you've all had a great year! And I wish you all to have another one!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'll see you all next year! THANK YOU!

Rumple x

PS: this one-shot was requested, feel free to request anything you like, I'll see what I can do ;)