Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to scribble a few words in review of this endeavor. I have tried to answer everyone and I am sorry if I have missed any. I truly appreciate them all.

Merick

Part 4

The end of the tunnel was not well lit, but Thor had a sense that it was nearing. The air felt cleaner suddenly and not as oppressive on his chest. Even Sleipnir's pace had picked up, as he too felt the evil now more behind them than in front, and then, as if they had passed through a palpable veil both found themselves at the foot of a green hill, the night sky opening above them, the cavern behind them. Thor filled his lungs with crisp, cold air and dismounted, turning his head up to see the sky, to try to orient himself as to where he was based on the stars. Sleipnir nickered beside him and tossed his head, mane whipping about as if he was shaking off the aura of the journey.

"Will you remain here Sleipnir, as I search for Loki, or will you return to Asgard to the All-Father?" At the mention of Loki's name the horse's ears perked up, and he nickered again. Thor understood what Sleipnir meant to convey.

"Then keep yourself well hidden. If too many days pass you should return to Asgard. If I cannot stop Loki you will be needed to carry our Father into battle against him." The horse bowed, or at least it seemed that way to Thor. He patted him firmly on the withers and the beast stepped away.

Thor had studied the stars of all the worlds since boyhood, and though he had no doubts of his location, the stars confirmed his arrival in Midgard. The hills, the grass, the crisp air all told him that he was not near New Mexico, the place where Jane was, and where Loki was plying his trade, and so he took to the air, Mjolnir in the lead, willing it to take him to where his brother was, and the woman who had been foremost in his thoughts for months.

He had watched her enter her house, she and Darcy, the younger woman going up the stairs and Jane retreating to a main floor bedroom. Darcy had done her best to seduce him on the dance floor, and it had been a pleasant distraction, but that was all that it was. The girl was drunk, and Loki doubted the sincerity in her offers, and most certainly he did not intend to have sex with her while his true target slept below them. Once they had left the bar he had followed, drawing on his powers to cloak himself in the night. It was a simple matter to wait outside the house until he could hear that both women had fallen into a sleep. Darcy had succumbed to the alcohol and exhaustion of her fevered dancing, Jane, given in to the sorrow it was so easy to read off of her. For a moment at the bar, when they had been speaking, when she had let her guard down to laugh at his jokes, he believed that he could bring her to him with no magics at all. But something had pulled her thoughts away from him, and Loki did not doubt it was the memories of Thor. His brother had always had a way of ingratiating himself to others, an ease of manner so that everyone liked him or loved him. It was just one of the things that so frustrated Loki.

But Thor was nowhere to be seen just then, and was still trapped in Asgard as far as Loki knew. It would not be that way forever, he expected that the All-Father was even now commissioning the reconstruction of the Bifrost. That was why Loki had needed to move so quickly. If the full power of Asgard were brought against him before he had the Casket of Ancient Winters he would have no hope of claiming the throne that was rightly his. He intended to start with the realm of Midgard, and then use its heroes as his army to take Asgard and the throne of his foster father. His birthright had been stolen twice over by Odin, and the depth of his anger fed him.

He stood outside her door, waving his hands over the lock, hearing it slide back and feeling his own heart skip a beat at the sound. Thor wanted this woman, and that made her beyond tempting to Loki. He might not have been able to turn her mind in the bar, but he felt certain that if he could touch her that he could control her easily, and bend her to his desires. She was so close, and a part of her had found him intriguing, he could play on that. He reached out for the door, his mind racing. How would she taste? How would her naked skin feel under his? How would her body envelop his as he filled her? Would she cry out? A chill unrelated to thoughts of her ran the length of his body and he cast his eyes skyward.

"Bloody Hel" He could feel the presence of his brother, suddenly closer than Loki had ever anticipated, in Midgard, and near to New Mexico. He cursed under his breath again, knowing that his physical desires would have to be suppressed for the benefit of his greater plan, though blaming his brother once again for stealing his chances. Again he wrapped himself in invisibility and withdrew to a safe distance. He knew his brother well enough to know that his thoughts would be focused on the woman, and he; Loki, was under no serious threat. He stayed to watch as his brother came to earth raising a cloud of desert dust on her threshold, debating casting a spell over him to make him leave, and then deciding against it. One night of pleasure was not worth losing the chance to spend an eternity as a King.

The house was not familiar to Thor, but the silver trailer parked at its side, and the battered jeep brought back the certainty that Mjolnir had brought him to the correct place. It was late at night, the town around him quite silent. He debated knocking on the door but when he put his hand on the knob he found it unlocked, and he took the chance to open it and step inside, thanking the Norns for their intervention on his behalf.

The house was as quiet as its surroundings, and Thor felt a sudden wave of guilt for his action as he closed the door behind himself and found the means to lock it. It had been a great many months, and though Heimdall had continued to speak to him of Jane and how she called to him, and searched for him, the thought that she might have taken a lover in his absence clutched his heart tightly. How could he have been foolish enough to think that he could simply step back into her life? He let Mjolnir slide slowly from his grasp, leaving it on her dinning table amidst all the papers and journals she had spread there. He took a moment to leaf through the smallest, one he recognized by its tattered corners and elastic fasting. He found the page he had drawn on himself, the sketch of Yggdrasil that linked her worlds. The happiness that he had felt in his heart then, in spite of the banishment he was facing came back to him, and he knew he had to go in search of her, he had to know. He left his cloak and armor with the hammer, and padded quietly around the small main floor of the house. There were only two rooms with doors, the first proving to be a bathroom, and the second, once he steeled his heart with the courage to open it, was a bedroom, occupied by one person, one beautiful, peaceful looking woman, who was deeply asleep.

She was lying near the middle of the bed, one arm wrapped over the covers, holding the blanket to her chest. Thor watched her for a few moments, wanting to wake her, and yet not wanting to because as she slept every possibility was still open to him, foremost the one that she would still want him. But it had been so many months of thinking about her, walking the shattered Bifrost to learn news of her, spending hours alone reliving every memory of her, and he could not help himself but to reach out to touch her skin very softly with his fingertips.

To his great surprise a quiet sigh escaped her lips, though she did not wake, and her hand came over his fingers, clutching them close to her body, pulling him forward to her. He was wholly enchanted by her action and allowed himself permission to lie down beside her carefully, trying not to disturb her slumber. His weight on the mattress caused her to roll just slightly towards him and the nearness of her washed over him as happiness. She sighed again and pulled his arm tighter to her chest. Only after a moment did he feel the previously relaxed muscles of her back, pressed against his shirt, tighten and swiftly she had rolled to face him, eyes wide, but face and mind still addled with sleep.

"Thor?" The word was drawn out as a question as her mind caught up with what her eyes were seeing. He could only smile at her temporary confusion.

"Yes Jane, it is I."

"I thought, I thought you were just another dream." Her brows were knit in uncertainty.

"Have you often had dreams of me holding you as you sleep?" He put the most innocent expression on his face that he could manage, still smiling at her.

"What, hey, wait," consciousness had taken its hold of her fully by then, "It was a dream, dreams," she corrected herself, "you can't blame someone for what they dream about."

"No Jane, you can't." He reached his hand forward and ran it alongside her face, tucking her hair behind her ear and continuing on to cradle the back of her head. Gently he pulled her towards himself, even as he drew closer to her, finally meeting her mouth and kissing her, as he himself had dreamed of doing so many times. She softened into his embrace almost immediately, and pushed her mouth harder against his, wrapping her arms tightly around his back, determined that if he really was a dream that he was not going to escape her that time.