"Jane… Psst, Jane, wake up!"

Jane blinked open her eyes and immediately shut them again. Darcy had somehow invaded her room and opened the curtains, letting the bright sunlight (strange for a winter morning) into the room.

"Darcy… what the hell are you doing? It's…" She checked the clock on her bedside stand, "Seven in the morning."

Darcy turned her head, her hair flopping over her face and raised her eyebrows at Jane.

"Seriously? Most mornings, you're awake way before this. Did you go stargazing last night? I mean, apart from the fact you're, like, super-tired, I went on to the roof this morning to see if I'd left my IPod up there and found a half finished cup of hot cocoa just left on the edge of the roof. It had grown a skin and everything, which was gross – and a waste of good hot cocoa… but back to the subject, have you seen my IPod?"

Jane groaned and threw the covers back over her head. Just like Darcy, to wake Jane up before she was completely ready to wake up. Luckily, she didn't have to deal with this often, as Darcy wasn't exactly a morning person. Speaking of which…

"Why are you up this early anyway? You never get up early."

Darcy looked offended. "Hey, I can get up early! But…" She continued hurriedly, seeing Jane's facial expression, "You have a visitor."

"Who?!" Jane pushed back the covers and rolled out of bed like a ninja. Well, not exactly, but deal with it.

"Go and see." Darcy pointed her thumb towards the door, having been too busy inspecting Jane's room to actually look at her.

"Darcy." Jane began patiently.

"Huh?"

"Get out my room."

"Oh, fine. Though, you should probably do something about this mess…"

"Darcy, go away." Jane pulled on her dressing gown and tied the robe in a bow, while slipping on, well, her slippers.

Darcy glared at her disapprovingly. "You're seriously going down like that?"

Jane met her gaze with a slightly even more irritated look, if that was possible. "If they're going to visit at seven in the damn morning, then they can get what they have coming at them."

Darcy sighed. "Fine, Just don't say I didn't warn you. Wait, is that my IPod?" She pulled the blanket off a stool to find it was, indeed, her I-Pod.

"JANE!"

Jane beat a hasty retreat, running out her room and lightly down the stairs, straight into the kitchen.

Loki sat on her counter, looking about the room in a bored fashion. When she came in, however, his eyes immediately went to her, only to look her up and down, barely concealed mirth bubbling in his eyes. Jane blushed a tomato red and crossed her arms over herself. She was going to kill Darcy for not telling her who it was.

It was a full minute before Loki spoke, smiling lightly.

"Hello. Miss Foster." Jane nodded and gave him a quick smile in return. Then, deciding the awkwardness had abated a bit, decided to walk over to the kettle and make herself some coffee.

"That's an interesting outfit you are wearing today." Loki casually remarked, inspecting the kitchen again. She wished he wouldn't; the counter was still cluttered with stuff and the washing up was sitting in the sink from yesterday. She inwardly cringed, both at the prospect of having to clean this mess up and at the idea of what Loki was thinking. Neither were particularly appealing.

"It's my pajamas. For sleeping in. Because they're comfy. Besides, it's seven in the morning, don't expect me to look fantastic." Loki snorted; she wasn't qite sure what he found so funny about what she just said, but she wasn't going to complain. It was too early for that.

The kettle beeped and, taking it off the stand, yawned widely. She'd been up half the night looking at the stars, which were especially bright that night, and secretly hoping Loki was going to come back. Not that she expected him too, in fact, it completely surprised her to find him back here. She had thought it was just a one off thing but, apparently, Loki did not.

"You seem tired, Miss Foster. Did you watch the stars last night?" Loki asked. He knew perfectly well what she had been doing, Jane thought, but the silence was getting a bit oppressive.

"Yeah, I was. They were really beautiful last night, there were no clouds so I could see loads of them perfectly. It was amazing."

Loki chuckled. "If you think the stars on Earth are amazing, you should see them from Asgard. You would enjoy that, I think. Maybe-" He hesitated. "Maybe you should ask Thor to take you to see them, next time he visits you."

"That would be awesome! I can't wait to ask him!" Jane burst out. She rushed over to the calendar pinned to a wall and pulled it off, flipping through it excitedly.

"What's this?"Loki watched Jane as she flipped through the calendar and finally found the date she was looking for.

"Oh, me and Thor decided to designate some dates for when he should come and visit and when he leaves, so that I can prepare for him coming and he doesn't come when I'm in the bath or in my PJ's or something." She glared at Loki, but Loki only innocently stared back. His eyes were her favourite shade of blue, she noticed. Not that that had anything to do with anything. It was just an observation. Nothing more.

"So, what are you doing here anyway? I mean, I thought Thor had stopped your magic-" She bit the rest off. She was very aware that she knew some things that Loki and Thor didn't intend for her to know.

Loki snorted. "Thor only put some cuffs that restrict my magic onto me and they were easily broken by a strong spell. Had he thought I had enough strength to break the simple ones he decided would actually stop me, then I wouldn't be here now. So, you can thank Thor's underestimation of me for my visits here."

Jane frowned. That didn't sound like Thor... maybe he just wanted to see the best in his brother and to trust him. To bad his brother wasn't exactly trustable.

"Okay... as long as you don't make any trouble. The moment you do, I will tell Thor everything."

"Of course. What other action would there be to take?" He smirked down at her from the counter to where she had sat down at the table, her mug of coffee in front of her. She took a sip and grimaced. Urgh, it had gone cold. Never mind, she thought as she poured the drink down the sink and laid the cup down next to it.

Loki watched her do this, a tiny grin still touching the corners of his mouth. It was getting kind of irritating, like he was constantly laughing at her. But she couldn't exactly tell him to stop smiling, that would sound weird. Really weird-

"What is it?"

Jane started and turned her attention back to Loki.

"What's what?"

"The drink."

"Oh! Um, it's coffee. Do you want some?"

Loki considered this for a moment. "I suppose there is no harm in trying."

"Um, okay." Jane popped the kettle back on and ran to get another mug. It quickly boiled and soon Jane was handing the cup to Loki, with the cautionary words of 'Careful, it's hot'.

Loki took a sip and Jane waited with baited breath to see how he would react. It was almost a disappointment when he wrinkled up his nose and sat the cup down. Of course he wouldn't like it, Jane thought. He's probably used to, Nectar of Olympus or something. Wait, that was Greek. But whatever, he probably had better things to drink in Asgard than coffee.

"Is that all you drink here?" Loki inquired, a look of ever so slight disgust on his face. Man, he was hot- no he wasn't, he was way too thin and didn't have any color in his face. He definitely wasn't her type. At all.

"Um, no. We drink.. other things."

"Like what?"

"I don't know... tea?"

Loki nodded his head towards her cupboard and she finally got it. Inspecting the contents of her cupboard, she wondered if she even had tea. Darcy and her didn't drink it, but Erik came occasionally and liked a cup of it now and again when he visited. Would Loki like tea, she mused. She could imagine that, actually, Loki delicately holding a tea cup and taking tiny sips of tea. Not at all like Thor, who tended to drink it all up in one gulp. And eat her out of house and home. She smiled; he was so cute.

Finally, she found a jar full of tea bags at the very back. She pulled one out and made the tea, hesitating over whether to put in sugar, or milk.

"Do you want any sugar or milk or something?" She indicated towards said items.

Loki looked at them just a second, then shook his head. He was being very quiet, she noticed. Did she say something to offend him? Surely not, she had only offered him coffee. Wait, had that offended him? No, that was dumb. Who would get offended by somebody giving them coffee? Still, Loki was very hard to red. Maybe he was imply waiting for the tea while she was busy thinking about how she had offended him. That was probably just it. Jeez, Jane, she scolded herself, stop reading into things too much.

She passed the cup over to Loki and he delicately took it, holding it just as she had imagined. Stifling a giggle, she watched as he took a tiny sip and his eyes widened.

"So, do you like it?" Jane asked, hopeful.

"For a Midgardian drink, it is tolerable."

Jane took that as a good sign. Loki wasn't exactly the most outgoing with emotions and his words were always measured, pointed, put together just right to do the job they were supposed to do.

They sat together in silence, Loki on the counter and Jane at the table, until he had finished the tea. Then, he slid off the counter in one smooth motion and smiled briefly at Jane.

"Thank you, Miss Foster. For the tea-" he gestured to the empty cup- "And the company."

"Oh, um. Bye. It was nice having you around as well."

Loki nodded at her, all politeness and strode out the door. She head the front door clicking after him as he left.

"Jane! Why did you take my Ipod? I was looking for that for ages! That was pretty mean, you know." Darcy bounced in and confronted Jane.

"No... particular reason." Darcy's eyes narrowed and she scrutinized Jane. The suddenly an answer seemed to come to her and she laughed.

"You were listening to songs, weren't you? See, I told you my music taste wasn't terrible!" Jane sighed. Darcy was too clever for her own good sometimes.

"You know, if you want to use it, just ask me. I'm cool with it. So, Loki's gone?" Jane remembered the embarrassment of coming down to the kitchen in her pajamas and her cheeks flared.

"Why didn't you tell me it was him?!"

"I told you you'd regret it."

Jane covered her face with her hands, tired. Darcy was right. Again.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go to the store, do you want anything?" Jane shook her head.

"Okay, I'll be back soon. Be good. And get changed!" Darcy swung out the room and seconds later, Jane heard the front door opening. A sudden thought hit her and she called out after Darcy.

"Yeah?"

"Actually, could you buy a couple of packets of tea? We might need it."

"Uh, sure." And then Darcy was out the door.

Next chapter done! So excited! Reviewers get cookies!
Imagine Loki wrinkling his nose in disgust, just like a kitten... (Dies from cuteness overdose).
Dawh, they're so cute together!