And, chapter two is up!
You will find it is quite a bit shorter than the 1st...I'm sorry. I just got to a point where I felt I needed to stop. I had also meant for this to just be a two-parter. Looks like it's shootin' for 3 ;)
This fic IS meant to be kind of silly, but this chapter is a bit somber and I hope it doesn't ruin the mood. I promise to end the fic with sweet silly Thor-ness!
Cuz come on, silly-Thor is AWSOME-Thor. :D
It was only mid-afternoon, but the day had been a long one so far and Jane felt the need for a rooftop escape.
The fire that flickered drew her gaze and, as it had many times before, allowed her to relax and let her mind wander.
Darcy had taken off an hour before to finish a paper for school, and Eric had been M.I.A since being called in for an impromptu meeting with the man known as Nick Fury (Jane had noticed this happening more and more often as of late).
She was alone.
Maybe it was better to be so- she needed the silence after what she felt was an unnecessary surprise birthday party Darcy had thrown for her two days ago. She had even gone so far as to string up decorations around their lab and invite random people she had never seen before.
The fire crackled and Jane suppressed a sigh.
The only good thing that came out of that night was cake and the opportunity to meet Tony Stark. The man had shown up out of nowhere and handed her his assistant's business card.
"Fury's got me out of the loop right now, but if you need anything, I'll be happy to ignore him and sneak back into it."
She'd been surprised at his boyish attitude—it completely contradicted the image she had concocted of him since watching his exploits as Iron Man on the news.
How could someone so powerful and heroic be so immature?
Right….
Apparently it was a trend.
Only her powerful hero wasn't quite that immature.
Jane could only guess why Nick Fury had kept that man "out of the loop".
Her neck popped slightly and Jane rolled her shoulders, noting their stiffness.
The stress of the past five months was catching up to her.
Sometimes, late at night, she would try to convince herself that everything that had happened was just a dream. The chaos that had ensued since Thor's departure seemed to blur her world into a fog that haunted her in her sleep.
And then she would wake up to the sound of Agent Coulson knocking on her trailer door at five in the morning to ask how her research was progressing.
She had grown to like Coulson (as much as a no-nonsense representative of a top-secret organization could be liked), but sometimes it was just too much.
Sometimes she just wanted to meet him at the door with a flyswatter and tell him to "Shoo."
Another small pop of her shoulders and even with the sunlight still bearing down onto the rooftop, Jane was ready to lean back and take a breather.
And then…
As if on cue…
Metallic knocking sounded from below.
Jane's eyes rolled even as she shut them in frustration.
Coulson, really?
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon?
The banging was louder than usual, too. What, did he think she had suddenly made a breakthrough in the past 12 hours?
"Easy, girl. Just put on the smile and tell him to check back in later."
And then the knocking stopped.
A sound akin to a hollow wind whispering through metal met her ears.
A soft thud behind her lawn chair immediately followed.
The shadow she could see looming over her had her heart pounding so hard she felt it would burst. Coulson's hair was not that long….
"Hello, Jane."
Her day was suddenly SO much better.