Jane had been tossing and turning all night. She couldn't sleep; excitement was pumping through her veins and her stomach was full of butterflies. It had been so long, but now, finally, Thor was coming to visit.
It had just struck five when Jane gave up on sleeping and pulled herself up. Thor was coming at midday; she had plenty of time to get things ready for him.
She pulled on her dressing gown and went into the kitchen, checking the cupboards to see if she had enough coffee. She had already done this several times the night before, but even that had failed to extinguish the butterflies in her stomach. So she did it again, in a vain hope that maybe, if she checked everything was okay, the butterflies would fly away.
Soon, she would dress and start preparing the last minute things, like the meal. But for now, she would sit down, eat something, and try to calm the jitters in her stomach.
"Loki!" Loki paused, the book he was reading balanced in his hands and looked up. He was standing by a shelf in the library, trying to find something he hadn't read already, since he had been reading for little less than a thousand years and that was plenty of time to read every book in the library.
He remembered a time when the books were replenished regularly, but after… after Frigga passed away, the library became abandoned by all, as a remembrance of the tragedy all the people of Asgard had felt.
Until Loki had decided, quite recently, that he was sick of doing nothing all day and decided, to the chagrin of many others, to pass the sacred boundaries of the library and to start reading the books that had been gathering dust on the shelves.
Thor was coming down the hallway, his eyes alert with worry. It was then Loki remembered; it was the day Thor was due to visit Jane.
He remembered how she had practically torn the calendar off the wall in her haste to show Loki the date in which Thor would be coming and he could imagine how excited she would be. Strange little mortal, he thought to himself. Why anybody would be excited for the visit of his brother, he could not fathom.
"Loki!" That was Thor again. Loki looked at his position near the shelf at the entrance of the library: that was no good, Thor would see him immediately. He stepped back, behind a nearby pillar and slowed his breathing. Thor probably wouldn't hear him anyway, but he wasn't taking any chances.
"Loki, please, come out. I need to talk to you." Thor pleaded. Thor saying please? That was a first. Usually he acted like Loki wasn't a prince of Asgard, but that he was a tiny mortal, barely worth glancing at, let alone being respectful to.
Still, he wasn't going to respond. Maybe once, he would have, but talking to Thor nowadays was always awkward, full of suspicious glances (mainly from Thor) and careful words. He'd never thought that he'd be speaking like one would a stranger to Thor, his brother and closest companion for as long as he could remember.
But he isn't your brother, Loki sharply reminded himself. Thor was just a person he had happened to grow up with. He wasn't his brother. Not anymore.
"Loki, if you insist on not coming to talk to me face to face, I will relay the message for you. Odin Allfather insists you stay in your rooms for the duration of my visit to Jane; if you break this rule he will be forced to restrict you even more." Thor did not need to say more. Loki sighed and, still holding the book, stepped out from behind the pillar.
"Loki!" Thor looked mildly surprised, he obviously didn't expect Loki to show himself.
"Who did you expect? Mother?" Loki spoke sharply and Thor visibly flinched. It still hurt him, Loki observed. It hurt Loki too, but he had long gotten used to the ache in his chest, where the thing he loved most was missing. After all, he'd had that feeling for a while and Frigga's death had only amplified it.
"Loki..." Thor sighed. Then his eyes fell on the books and his brows softened. "You may take as many books as you want. I am not leaving until midday, so you have until then to prepare." Loki raised his eyebrows; what was this new-found softness in Thor for the man he had been shunning so long?
"I will take note of that." Loki replied, keeping his voice as emotionless as possible. Thor nodded and, turning away, walked out the library and back through the corridor. Loki took a deep breathe, his only sign of emotion, and retreating once again behind the bookcase, begin to read again.
It was nearing one when Thor finally arrived. Jane had been waiting for over an hour, her nerves in shreds. She had begun to worry he wouldn't come, a million possibilities, all bad, running through her head. She frowned; that wasn't like her. Still, she just wanted everything to be perfect. And now he was here, so it was.
She pulled open the door and he enveloped her in a hug, which quickly turned into a kiss. That didn't last long, though, Jane had too much to talk about to give affection for long. She could do that tomorrow, they had more then a week together before Thor had to leave to go back to Asgard.
He ducked as he came in through the door (her place was tiny) and followed her into the kitchen. He looked tired, she noticed as he sat down heavily on a chair.
"So, how are you? How's everything is Asgard been recently?" Jane handed him a cup of coffee and he smiled, gulping it down like his life depended on it. Jane winced; surely that would have burnt his mouth? A memory comes back to her: Loki, holding a tea cup and taking tiny sips in a way that would have looked ridiculous if anybody else she knew had done it. But then, he wasn't like anybody else she knew, was he? She stifled a giggle as she imagined Thor delicately holding a cup of tea, pinky up.
"Asgard is well, I am well. However..." He trailed off, obviously not sure whether it's a good idea to finish his sentence. Jane knew she shouldn't push him, but curiosity burned up her throat and forced the words out.
"What's wrong?" Thor blinked, surprised. He cast his eyes to the floor for a second then hesitatingly began to speak.
"Loki... Loki has barely spoken to anybody since we came back from the battle with Malekith and when he does, it's rarely kind or even civil. In truth, I'm worried about him. I know... I know how dearly he loved Mother." It was Jane's turn to the one to blink in surprise. Of all the things... Loki?
She thought back to the last time she had seen him; he'd seemed his usual sarcastically snarky self; from what she knew of him, anyway, in her brief time having known him. In her brief time having known him... of course. Stupid, she mentally chided herself. Loki was playing them all. He obviously thought it would be amusing to mess with her, and Thor... the sneaky bastard. Well, she was never letting him anywhere near her ever again...
"Jane?" Jane started, blood still boiling at the thought of how Loki had messed with them all and turned her attention back to Thor. Thor smiled, wide but fake. She knew that it was time to change the conversation topic.
The day quickly wore on. She and Thor talked constantly, stories about everything from work to battles coming into the conversation. But she said nothing about Loki or Frigga, Thor did the same, except when he talked about going on adventures with Loki as a boy, which he spoke of with a wistful look in his eye. Her heart swelled in sympathy for him; he had lost his brother, just as surely as he had lost Frigga.
It was very late, or rather early, when she finally got to bed. She had barely changed out of her clothes before her head hit the pillow and she fell asleep.
So, here's the next chapter! I know there wasn't any Loki/Jane interaction, but it's important in the storyline (or so my muse says), so here you go. There's some Thor/Jane though, for the sheer delight of a canon pairing. (Hahahahahahahah nope).