Wow ok this is a really long chapter (much longer than I had intended) 9 pages of my word doc! But oh well. All the more story to read aye. ;) So the start of this will be from Jane's point of view. And while I crack on a bit with the next two chapters I will leave you with this. THE OFFICAL FIRST CHAPTER!
ps. I'm hoping to be updating this story every two weeks, there is a lot of plot and I need to get it right and the character development too, that's a real pain in the butt, :)
Chapter 1- Tall Dark and Handsome
Jane sighed and rolled her neck to work out the kinks. Her dorm was eerily quiet without her loud room-mate. Don't get her wrong though, she loved it. Finally, she was able to get some of her thesis done -without someone coming at three in the morning drunk as a skunk. Jane frowned. She had never really understood that saying; why would a skunk be drunk? She shook her head; her mind was wondering now. Maybe it was time for a break? She looked at the clock on her wall; 1:39am. Oops; she had done it again, worked without eating. When was the last time she ate? Thinking about it, she remembered having a cereal bar for breakfast, oh she had a coffee! She looked at the now long cold untouched beverage. With a sigh Jane pushed away from her desk and frowned as painful pins and needles starting in her legs. She shook them in an attempt to get the circulation back. Close but no cigar. Jane thought again, she had no idea what that saying meant either, as she limped into the shared kitchen to make a new mug of coffee.
The mug was filled and she was breathing in its sweet smell when her phone started to ring from somewhere. Where had she put it? She hastily put her mug down splashing scolding coffee on her hand. She yelped and cursed, jumping back knocking into a stray chair she had used that morning to get into the top cupboard. The chair tripped her over and she landed on her butt, smacking the back of her head into one of the lower cupboards. With a pained curse she rubbed the back of her head as she crawled into her room and searched for her phone. By the time she found it, it had stopped ringing. She found it under her bed with her lab notes for some reason -which she couldn't remember. She crawled out from under her bed slowly, minding her head, and flipped her phone open. There was a missed call and a message, both from Don. Jane ran a hand through her hair. They hadn't had chance to talk in the last two days. She read the text; it was just him asking if she was free to go out for a meal. Really she should say yes, but….
Jane sat on her bed and the springs creaked under her weight. She sat there staring at the wall for a while. When she glanced back at the clock she realized she had been sat there for half an hour. Time for bed.
Jane stripped out of her jeans and took her bar off as well. She crawled under the covers in her knickers and T-shirt. Don was probably just finishing up his night shift at the hospital. She looked one last time at her phone again, and then decided to deal with the text when the sun had risen.
It had started off as an OK day, she woke up remembered to drink her coffee, got to the university and… she had left all of her lab notes under her bed. She had to drive back for them because there was no way she was going to remember everything she had written. So she went all the way back, was late for her lecture, had to skip lunch to make her next one, had a drink of water that spilled over her top and soaked through so that her bar was showing. All in all she was now most certainly not having a good day. And now it was the end on it. She was sitting in traffic waiting for the lights to turn green so that she could finally go home. The lights turned green.
It happened so fast, it was over in the blink of an eye. She drove on and all the lights in the city flickered for a second. There a man suddenly appeared, standing in the middle of the intersection. She swerved and struck him with the side of her car. It was a hard impact and it threw her to the side, smacking her head against the window. Jane was dazed for a minute, blood was running down the side of her temple. Quickly she remembered the man outside her car and she dashed out, fumbling with her belt. She hovered over him shaking his arm. His eyes were unfocused but he slowly started to respond, by looking at her with slow blinks. She tried to get someone to call an ambulance. All the while she was holding onto the man trying to get him to stay awake. In the end she had to call 911. But he closed his eyes and went limp in her arms shortly after. God no!
"Hey, hey!" Jane patted the man's cheek again, but he didn't stir. God he was so pale! "Come on, please, please wake up, please be alive!" she kept begging. But he just lay there unresponsive. "Shit!" she cursed. This guy had just appeared in the road, in front of her car, and she had hit him. I killed him. She thought. She fumbled her shaking fingers under his chin and pressed them to his neck. Thank god, there was a pulse, but it was slow, very slow. Agonizing minutes passed before the ambulance arrived. By this time Jane was a jittering nervous wreck. Blue and red lights flashed and the siren blasting out as the gathered crowd moved away but still lingered, too curious to see the sight of a man lying down on the tarmac after getting hit by a car. The medics rushed out, yanking open the doors and pulling out the collapsible stretcher. They swarmed around Jane and the man, pushing her back.
"What happened?" a stocky lady asked Jane in a rush.
"I hit him with my car," she replied. "He just appeared." Jane took a few steps back and tangled her hands in her hair.
"Alright!" the lady shouted instructions. They checked his pulse and put his neck in a brace. "Get him out of here and into A&E!"
Two brought over the stretcher and put it down in the road next to the raven haired man. Jane was biting at the nail of her thumb, watching as they stopped counted to three the haled the man onto the stretcher then pushed it towards the ambulance.
A police patrol car pulled up next, adding more flashing lights and sirens. Jane ran her quivering hands through her hair; her fingers got caught in the knots she had made by fisting her hair earlier. An officer approached. The crowd was finally pushed back by officers setting the perimeter. Some looked a little disappointed to be blocked from seeing what has happening. Was the sight of a dying man entertainment? Jane was the suddenly angry with the people watching. Was it amusing that she had hit a man!
"Are you the one that hit him?" the officer asked pulling Jane from her angry thoughts. He held a notepad and a pen.
"Yes," Jane replied shakily, running her hands through her hair again and catching more knots.
"I'm going to need you to answer some questions," he said glancing at her from under his hat.
"Sure," she nodded jerkily. The ambulance was loading up the man she had hit and slamming the doors closed. The wheels squealed and burned rubber as it sped of to the Bellevue hospital.
"What is your name, miss?" he asked writing the date down in a page he was starting on.
"Jane Foster," She answered, watching as the flashing lights of the ambulance were swallowed by the city's streets. People were leaving now that there was no victim to look at.
"Are you employed?" he asked.
"I'm a student at NYC University, department of Astrophysics, I'm currently in the middle of my doctorate," she said trying to stay calm and focused. There were a couple other questions. She answered these too. Her heart was calming down, slowly.
"What happened?" he finally asked.
Jane paused stumbling as she tried to remember what had happened again, not like she would forget though. "I was driving, the road was clear, it was a green light, so I went on then suddenly he was there, right in the middle of the intersection, I swerved to avoid him but I hit him with the side of my car and he just went down," Jane stopped, because her voice was shaking so badly, it was hard for her to even tell what she was saying. "He just appeared," she said again staring into space, replaying the moment again in her mind. She had been driving and the lights changed to green before she got there, so she kept going straight through. She blinked and he was there, standing in the middle of the intersection. Wait. She drew up the image again. His knees had been buckling; was he falling down before she hit him?
More questions were answered, and after that she was finally allowed to go. She thanked the officer as he left. She turned to her car and froze when she saw the massive dent in the side. She could still fell the collision when she hit him, and hear the sound of the thud his body made when it collided with her car. She must have hit him really hard to cause this much damage. She started shaking again. God had she killed him? Was he dead already? The crowd was gone now, the show was over. She convinced herself to get back into her car and sit in the driver's seat for a while, with both hands on the wheel. This wasn't going to work. She got out again and grabbed her things from the backseat. She hailed a cab and climbed in.
"Where to?" the Hispanic young man asked with a smile.
"Bellevue Hospital," Jane said she pulled out her phone and looked at her texts. She still hadn't replied to Don. She gnawed on her lip and picked off the dead skin. She didn't know what she was doing. But she had to know if that guy was alive. Should she call him? He was her boyfriend after all, but somehow telling her boyfriend that she had been in a car accident didn't sit right with her; she would tell him later. If she told him now he would want to see her and then get her to stay over, then she wouldn't be able to see if the guy she had hit was alive. No. she would tell Don tomorrow, maybe. Jane sighed and put her Phone back into her bag. Sitting back while tapping her feet, watching the city fly past. The cab pulled up onto 1st Avenue, drove around for a bit before finding a place to pull up to the curb. Jane paid the cabby and told him to keep the change; which, now she thought about it, was stupid because she was low on cash and needed every cent. Oh well, there was nothing that she could do about it now. Maybe she could ask Don to lend her some money? Nope, defiantly not he would use it as an excuse for something or other. The front of the hospital was busy; there were four ambulances parked there pulling people out of the back and rushing them all into the building. Jane hurried up the steps and pushed the doors open then jumped to the side as a guy with a broken leg was wheeled past on a stretcher. He was yelling something in a language she couldn't quite catch. Spanish? She pulled away from the wall when there was a break in the traffic, and walked to the main desk in the reception. The receptionist was on one the phone with fiver others ringing around her. Jane waited for her to finish but her legs were slowly turning to jelly and the butterflies in her belly wouldn't leave her alone.
"Excuse me," she tried the get the tall black lady's attention. She glanced her way. "Where can I find a guy with black hair who just got hit by a car?" The lady pulled the phone away from her ear.
"TANYA!" She yelled and a nurse came running. The receptionist waved a hand at Jane then picked up another phone. Tanya looked flushed and asked Jane what she needed. Jane repeated her question.
"We have a John Doe on the third floor in ward 216," Tanya read out from the computer screen. "Car crash, bed six" she added.
"Thanks,"
"Miss you should have someone look at the head injury!" she called after Jane but she was gone. Jane rushed off again and legged it to the elevators, pressing the button for the third floor more times than was really necessary. She got in and waited impatiently as it stopped on the second floor and people got in. The doors closed then dinged open with sluggish slowness; Jane squeezed her way past the other passengers, there was just enough room. She looked left then right, then saw a sign and jogged down the hall straight ahead. "Room 216, 216," she muttered. Her eyes darting from one sign to the next. She half jogged past ward 200. She rounded the corner and saw 216 down the hall and on the right. She slowed down as she passed a doctor, and then spun into the room with her hair following wildly behind her. She marched along the beds, ignoring the strange looks she was getting from the patients, until she reached the last one on the row. He wasn't there. She turned round frantically. No, no, no, no. she panicked she couldn't see him. She stopped and saw a bay with its curtains drawn. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. Please don't be dead. She prayed. She pulled the curtains back and quietly, stepped in.
On the bed lay a raven haired man. The bed looked too small for him, or he was too tall? His feet were almost hanging off the edge. Looking at him now she saw that he would tower over her if he was stood up.
He was taller than Don, and Jane could tuck her head under his chin with ease. If Jane didn't know better, which she didn't, she would say that the top of her head would just barely reach his shoulder. Jane placed her bag down and leaned over to look at his face. Even with the oxygen mask on she could tell that it was him. He had a brace round his neck and there were scratches and bruises on his cheeks. Jane felt relief surge through her, as she saw his chest rise and fall with his breathing. With the invisible weight lifted from her chest she was exhausted. Jane let her legs buckle and collapsed into the chair next to the bed. Thank god. She covered her face with her hands and let a few tears out as she choked a sob, "Thank god," she said shaking her head.
Jane stayed that way for a while before rubbing her eyes dry and looking at the man again. She turned to the sign above his bed, John Doe. She turned back to his pale face. He had prominent cheek bones and a sharp, jaw-line. He looked; it took Jane a few seconds to come up with the right word, elegant. She stared at him. "Who are you?" she asked knowing he wouldn't respond. She saw him appear in the empty road again. She frowned and reached out with her hand, brushing it lightly against his cheek. "Where did you come from?" he didn't react. His face looked peaceful but there was a slight frown as if something wasn't quite to his satisfaction. Jane leaned back and settled into the relatively comfortable high backed chair, and watched him. Her eyes started to fell heavy and her head drooped to the side. Jane slipped into a heavy deep, sleep and boy did she need it after the day she had had. She dozed for about an hour before a nurse come and woke her up. She then very kindly called Jane a cab so she could go home. By the time she got home it was 5:34am.
Thank god it's the weekend now. She collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep fully dressed.
At 10:45am her phone started to ring. Jane groaned pulling the pillow she had put over her head- to block out the light- off. It was another blasted text from Don.
-just finished shift wanna have lunch?-
Jane glared at the text the shoved the phone away. She didn't want lunch. She wanted some god damned sleep! Jane was just about to collapse into her pillows again when she remembered another man at the very same hospital. Suddenly she was bolt upright and wide awake. She snatched up her work –might as well got some of it done- and a book. She made a quick coffee and sipped at it when it was too hot, scolding her mouth. That reminded her! She hadn't brushed her teeth! She put the mug down and scraped her unwashed hair back into a ponytail. Teeth brushed, she was stuffing her thesis into her bag and shoving her feet into her red Wellington boots. Jane raced out of the dorm, then back again to lock the door. Her coffee was still in the kitchen cold and untouched, like the last one and the one next to it.
Jane pushed open the door to room 216 and went to sit in the chair she had claimed in the night. John Doe was the name on the sign above his head, but she gave him her own name. Tall Dark and Handsome- even though he seemed to have a permanent scowl.
His raven hair looked like it needed a wash but they had removed the neck brace and oxygen mask. His neck -like the rest of him- was slender but strong. He was a very attractive man- Jane pursed her lips together, what was she doing? she had Don. But there was no harm in admiring another good looking man. Was there? Nope, but there was something maybe a little bit stalker-ish about watching a good looking man while he slept. And Jane wasn't some weird, creepy person that watched hot men sleep. It would be better if he was awake. What she wouldn't give to have him open his eyes and let her know that he was going to be alright. She reached out her hand and rested it over his pale one. She watched his face for any sign, but found none forthcoming. Jane pulled her hand back and pulled out her textbooks and started to read.
Loki was adrift in darkness, floating on nothing. For once he was glad there was nothing. He could just stay there and finally have a few minutes of peace, without Thor badgering him to go on some long and tedious quest-which Loki would have to save them both from. Loki had a niggling sensation that he was forgetting something important; but what it was he had no idea. It was quite and He enjoyed a few quiet moments of peaceful thought and contemplation on anything taking his fancy –or nothing at all. Slowly out of the blue there came a tingling in his left hand. He looked down at his hand and saw nothing there. He cocked a brow in fascination. The tingling changed to warmth, and then slowly he felt like someone's hand was resting over his own. He frowned then. Who would hold his hand? His mother? No, this hand did not feel like Frigga's. However it was still a woman's hand -he could somehow tell. He tried to sit up on the nothingness but pain sparked and flared over his body, so he stayed quite still. The sensation of the hand pulled away and he felt suddenly very alone in an unknown place. Panic flashed in his mind, he now didn't want to be alone in this place. He wanted the hand back, he didn't want be alone.
Come back! He tried to call out but the words never left his mind. He tried to move and only pain came. He then reached out with his mind, searching for the owner of the warm hand. The shadow of a presence pricked at his consciousness. He glanced there but saw no one. He pushed harder with his mind but nothing came of it. He was getting tired. His eyes slowly closing against his will. He felt the hand return over his and a surge of relief washed over him. The hand remained then slipped away once more.
Images came next, memories; when he was young and playing with Thor. When he was a boy and getting into mischief with Thor. The memories flashed past in a whirlwind before they stopped on a single image he saw again through his own eyes. His had a vivid blue. It all came crashing back, everything. What he had done, what Odin had done and what Thor had done. They all betrayed him! Every last one! He should make them pay for what they did, yes make them pay. Kill them, kill them all! He stopped. That last thought had not been his. Had he just heard the thoughts of another? That was the only explanation. He felt the mind of the Other One occupying this black space grip him with a giant iron fist. It reeled him in like a fish on a line. He tried to pull away but it was too strong! There was nothing for him to grab onto and crawl away. Hope had gone replaced with dread, when a familiar sensation started to tingle in his left hand. He gritted his teeth through the shooting pain in his head and gripped the phantom hand holding his own. The thing pulling him was stopped. Loki felt himself being pulled back, away from that darker place with a being he wished dearly to avoid. He breathed through his teeth as the pain in his head became too much and he had to let go of what he was holding. The warmth of the hand remained for a time and he was glad it did. Whoever or whatever it was, had pulled him away from something dangerous. It saved him. Bitterly he thought. I do not deserve to have been saved. His cheek started to tingle and he felt the soft caress of phantom fingers. If the owner of these hands knew what he was they would not touch him as such.
Jane was immersed in her reading when a small grunt snapped her head up. The man on the bed looked like he was in pain and a cold sweat had broken over her forehead. She closed her book and reached out taking hold of his hand, in an attempt to comfort him if she could. Jane yelped in shock when his hand clamped onto hers like a vice. She was going to try pulling away when his grip loosened and he relaxed. She left her hand where it was and stood up from her chair to lean over him. She looked intensely into his face and saw the frown still there. The sweat on his face glistened in the morning light coming gently through the window. What on earth had just happened? With her free hand she brought it up and placed it against his cheek. The frown melted away like morning dew and his handsome features relaxed along with his hand. He breathed deeper but remained asleep.
Jane stayed with her hand on his cheek for a long time before she drew away.
The nurses came and went on their rounds chatting with her and giving her updates on his progress. They where all lovely ladies and asked if she was the man's girlfriend or partner, she said no, that she was actually they one who hit him. A couple thought this very romantic, but one had said something which troubled her. 'It was strange he was not awake'. Jane looked into the pale face of Tall Dark and Handsome. Something was stopping him from waking up.
At lunch time Jane walked into the hospital food court and grabbed a sandwich and a coffee. She was sipping at this coffee when a news report caught her eye.
"There is still no explanation for the electrical storm last night," Jane lowered her polystyrene cup, "NASA say they have not seen a storm this powerful before," there came some telescope pictures of what looked like a thunderstorm in space, "Yes," I scientist said, "It was like it passed over us like a the trail of a shooting star before just vanishing."
"People have reported seeing something like this storm over New York a few homes even said that they lost all electricity. Could this be connected?" More like the whole city, Jane thought with a snort.
"Impossible," the supposed expert said, "That was just a mild thunder storm."
Jane stared at the expert. That storm in space and the time it passed over earth matched perfectly to the time John Doe had appeared in front of her car. Could the two be connected? Jane knew one thing; there was no such thing as coincidences, not in her field of work.
She drank her coffee and returned to 216 where the now most interesting person in the world was laying comatose on a bed. Looking at him again she spoke aloud.
"Who are you?"
Jane sat in the chair she was now becoming quite fond of. She remembered to text Don back and they arranged for a meal on Monday at 7:00pm. She took out her book and started to read.
She was thinking too much about a certain raven haired mystery-man, to pay full attention. She was reading a chapter about storms in space and solar flares, when a low grunt sounded from the bed next to her. She lowered her book and expected to look into the sleeping face of the man she had been sat with all day -it was now nearly 6:00pm. Instead she saw Tall Dark and Handsome's eyes flutter open and stare blinking, heavily at the ceiling. His eyes were cloudy with sleep but a bright steel blue.
Jane watched frozen as his eyes cleared into a sharp focus, and then he frowned. His head slowly turned to face her groggily. His eyes widened a fraction then he turned away again with his scowl.
"Where am I?" he asked, she could see his jaw twitching.
"The hospital, New York city," she said gently -she had almost stammered, almost. He looked at her blankly then turned his head away. "I'm going to get a nurse," she said pushing to her feet and hurrying to find the first medical person she could. Instead of a nurse though, she found a doctor and led him into ward 216. He checked the raven hair man's pulse and vitals. But when it came to identifying him he clamped up tighter than a clam. A grumpy and ungrateful clam, Jane thought as she watched the slight sneer in his eyes. Finally the doctor left and Jane was left alone again with him. He was better company when asleep, Jane thought sitting back down in her chair. He ignored her openly and stared at the ceiling. Jane however, was not deterred easily. She sat with defiance and stoically picked up her book again. She couldn't help the odd glance over her pages though. In sleep his face was tense but awake it was like looking at a stone statue, he gave away nothing. He was irritated that much she could tell, by the slight twitching of his eyebrow. Finally his clipped voice spoke in measured tones.
"Why are you still here?" he asked, he might have sounded irritated but Jane liked to think that there was an underlying hit of confusion.
"Well, I was the one that hit you with my car," Jane said.
"For which I thank you," he drawled with a roll of his eyes. Jane pushed that to one side. This man seemed to have a way of pressing all of her wrong buttons. She paused, then thought about it for a second. He had every right to speak to her like that; she hit him with a car after all. She grimaced.
"Okay, Tall- John Doe I deserve that one," -she had almost slipped up and called him by her nickname- "But I have been here all day and most of last so you could at lease thank me for that."
"You've just been sat there watching me sleep?" he replied without batting an eye.
"Yes-," Jane paused then blushed remembering her musings from earlier in the day, "Not like that! Not in a creepy way! I just wanted to make sure you were OK!" She stumbled and fell over her words. And he was smirking! Oh this guy was good. Jane had lowered her book while she was floundering over her words, now she raised it again and hid her flushed cheeks behind its pages.
Loki watched the mortal with growing amusement. He let his smirk stay where it was. It felt nice to have a little fun again. He caught her sneak a glance his way and he raised an incredulous brow.
Curious mortal?
Yay! He is awake! And as mischievous as ever. I just want to say that Loki has yet to have met Thanos so he isn't as corrupted as he was after Avengers. The next chapter will be a bit more plot heavy but I just wanted to give you all a feel for the two of them.
Preview for chapter 2: Don picked her up from her dorm and they went to the nice restaurant. […] Jane wasn't paying attention, she was thinking about a raven haired man lying in a hospital bed.
please review!
