Two days earlier:
"I guess you're coming home with me," Jane said. Fenrir stared at her for a moment, like he was about to say something, and then looked down at the sand in defeat. Clearly he wasn't any more excited about their arrangement than she was. She sighed and headed back to her van.
As it turned out, getting Fenrir home was no easy feat. He'd never seen, much less ridden, in a car before. He'd stood outside the van for five minutes, just staring before Jane realized what the problem was and opened his door for him. Once inside he continued to stare at her equipment with confusion.
She'd never gone through any of this with Thor. He'd been just as unfamiliar with Earth technology but he'd just always taken it in stride.
"Is this where you live?" Fenrir asked.
"No this is just transportation," Jane said. Fenrir continued looking around. Jane began the drive back and noticed that, despite her slow speed, Fenrir was gripping the sides of his seat like he was about to be thrown off. "So, you're Thor's nephew?" Jane said, desperate to break the silence.
Fenrir only gave her a quick glance before turning his wide eyed gaze back to the road in front of them. He made a grunt that seemed to be a yes, so Jane decided to try again.
"Thor's never really mentioned you before. Are you two close?" She asked.
"Until very recently he thought I was dead; but yes, once we were very close," He said.
"What do you mean, he thought you were dead?"
"My family was fooled into thinking I had been killed, when I was really taken to Svartalfheim. That is where my uncle found me."
"What were you doing there?"
"I was being punished," Jane wanted to ask a lot more follow up question to that but as soon as she opened her mouth Fenrir spoke. "How far away is your home?"
Much as Jane wanted answers, she recognized the change of topic for what it was.
"We're almost there. Just a few more minutes," She said, turning onto the street that led to the lab. As she pulled up to the building she saw Darcy's car was already there. Jane hoped that Darcy had remembered to pick up the groceries like she'd said she would. Loki had threatened to kill her more than once and starving his son could only hurt the situation.
Suddenly a thought occurred to Jane. Darcy and Erik! How in the world was she supposed to explain her new houseguest to them? She couldn't believe that the thought hadn't occurred to her until now. She parked her car and tried to quickly think of an explanation for Fenrir that was better than "You try saying no to Thor".
Fenrir seemed to realize that something was wrong and, now that the car wasn't moving anymore, he began to get nervous.
"All right, so I live with these two people," Jane began. "I work with them. Well I really just work with Erik, Darcy is more of an intern and- . They're nice, friends of your uncle's." Jane knew that she was babbling. She hated this, she hardly ever babbled. "The thing is that your father isn't too popular here. There was actually an incident with him and Erik a few years ago. So you-"
"So I am no safer here than I was on Asgard," Fenrir said, looking dejected.
"What?! No! You're safe. No one will hurt you. It will be uncomfortable as sin but, you know what, let's just go inside and get this part over with," Jane said, hopping out. Once again she had to open the door for him.
Darcy was on them the second they came through the front door.
"Erik texted me and said that you'd gone out to the landing sight. Does this mean that Zeus is back from his vacation or… Hello," Darcy said, smiling when she got a look at Fenrir. "You're not Thor."
"Darcy, this is Fenrir. Thor asked me to look after him for a little while," Jane said, purposely leaving out a few key details. If she was lucky then maybe Thor would get back before she needed to explain everything.
"How do you manage to find all the hot aliens? I'm definitely calling dibs on this one," Darcy said, eyeing Fenrir.
"Dibs?" Fenrir said quietly. Clearly listening to Darcy was making him uneasy.
"You said Thor wanted you to look after him? You can just leave that to me. I mean, I practically paid for my entire high school social life with babysitting money. I'll make sure he's taken care of," Darcy said, taking a step toward Fenrir.
"Darcy," Jane snapped.
"What?"
"Back off a little."
"Oh, whatever," Darcy said going over to the table where bags of groceries were sitting. Jane sighed.
"Where's Erik?"
"Checking the monitors for the readings form your boyfriends landing," Darcy said, putting a box of cereal into a cabinet.
"Could you go get him?"
"I could give Fenrir a tour of the lab, if you need to go talk to Erik," Darcy said.
"Just go get Erik."
"Fine," Darcy said, leaving the room with a pout. Jane let out an exhausted sigh and noticed that, since entering the house, Fenrir had begun to look increasingly green.
"Sorry about Darcy. I know she can come on a little strong sometimes," Jane said. "She's actually nice once you get used to her." Fenrir gave a halfhearted nod but didn't raise his eyes from where they seemed to be glued to the floor.
Five minutes later Darcy was back with Erik following close behind her. Darcy went over to the table and flopped into a chair but Erik seemed glued to the doorway.
"So you're from Asgard too?" Darcy asked.
"Originally," Fenrir whispered.
"So you're like, what, Thor's apprentice?" Darcy asked. Fenrir muttered a no that was practically silent.
"Actually he's a relative of Thor's." Jane said, praying that no one would ask any follow up questions.
"Are you one of his secret love children?" Darcy joked.
"He's Loki's son," Erik stated, breaking his silence. Jane couldn't believe this.
"Seriously?" Darcy gasped.
"How did you know that?" Jane asked.
"Family resemblance; I'd know those eyes anywhere," Erik said, unable to tear his eyes off of Fenrir. "What in the world is he doing here?"
"He came with Thor."
"Speaking of tall, blond and godly; where is Thor?" Darcy asked, seeming to notice for the first time that Jane and Fenrir were alone.
"Thor's in New York. And he won't be back until tomorrow." Jane admitted. "I told him he could stay here."
"Oh, Thor," Erik groaned. "So should we be expecting a visit from Loki soon?"
"Thor didn't say anything about that," Of course, Jane thought, Thor hadn't told her much of anything before he'd flown off. Erik merely rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like a repeat of 'Oh, Thor'.
"I don't know if I'll be getting a lot of work done today," Jane continued. "So if you want to head home-"
"Oh no I think I'll stick around," Erik said.
"Me too," Darcy added.
"Didn't you say you had a date, later?" Jane asked.
"Are you kidding? This is way more interesting than making small talk with a psych major." Darcy said.
Jane couldn't help rolling her eyes. Leave it to Darcy to find something like this entertaining.
"So, Fenrir, are you hungry?" Jane asked, desperate to get everyones mind on something else.
Fenrir looked over at Erik and studied him for a minute before turning back to Jane and nodding.
"Me too. I skipped breakfast this morning." Jane said. She went over to the fridge to see what they had and noticed that Fenrir was following closely behind her. "Do you like eggs?" Jane asked. He nodded again. She grabbed the carton from the fridge and went over to the stove.
"So what are you doing here?" Darcy asked.
"Darcy," Jane said.
"I think I'd like to know too," Erik said, sitting next to Darcy at the table, and giving Fenrir the same analytical stare that he'd just gotten. Jane was about to answer the question herself when she remembered that she had no idea.
"I've come to live with my uncle," Fenrir said.
"Do the Avengers know about that?" Erik asked, with surprise.
"I think that's what Thor's doing now." Jane explained, as she began mixing eggs.
"So are you going to fight crime too now?" Darcy asked.
"I don't think so," Fenrir said, shifting his stance so he could be blocked by Jane.
"Hey, can you fly?" Darcy asked, moving her chair along with him.
"Darcy, enough questions." Jane said.
"What? His uncle can fly; I just want to know what we can look forward to."
"I, I can't fly." Fenrir muttered, wrapping his arms as tightly around himself as he could.
"So, Erik, did you get the readings on Thor's landing?" Jane asked. She was relieved when Erik began talking about physics. That was something she could handle. They continued to talk about what his machines picked up as she began frying the eggs.
"I think I might have finally found the stabilizing factor for the Bifrost's point of origin." Erik said. This stopped Jane in her tracks.
"No?" Jane said. This was what they'd been working on for the past five months. "I thought the equipment couldn't get a clear reading when the bridge was open."
"I've been making some modifications. It's too soon to be sure but I think we might have had a breakthrough." He said. This was too much to take in. She had to see these readings.
"Darcy, watch the eggs for me," Jane said, and bolted out of the kitchen into the main lab with Erik. Once she got there she was disappointed to find out that there was no breakthrough.
"Now tell me what's really going on," Erik ordered, once he'd gotten Jane alone.
"I told you, I promised Thor that he could stay here," Jane said again.
"If he's here to live with Thor then why didn't Thor take him along?"
"He said that he needed to explain things to the other Avengers before he brought Fenrir there."
"That's what I thought you'd say," Erik said, glancing warily at the hallway to the kitchen.
"You know that Thor wouldn't have left him here if he was dangerous," Jane said.
"I'm not worried about him. I'm worried about whoever it is that Thor is trying to get him away from," Erik explained.
"He's not-" Jane was interupted when they heard a smash and a scream coming from the kitchen. They both ran.
"Darcy, are you ok?" Erik asked running up to her.
"This was not my fault," She said.
"What happened?" Jane asked, when she saw Fenrir sitting on the floor in front of the smashed remains of their counter.
"I asked him to grab the frying pan while I got some plates. I didn't think he'd actually try and grab the pan," Darcy explained. Jane looked back at Fenrir. This explained why he was holding his arm to his chest like it was about to fall off.
"Go get the first aid kit," Jane ordered, while she rushed to the freezer to get ice and quickly filled a towel with ice cubes.
"What happened to the counter?" Erik asked.
"He threw the frying pan at it," Darcy explained, rummaging through the cabinets trying to find where she'd left the kit. Jane brought the ice over to Fenrir and sat down in front of him.
"Show me your hand," She said reaching forward. Fenrir slammed into the wall behind him like he was about to be burned again. "I need to see your hand." She said. Reluctantly he held out his arm. She was relieved to see that the burn wasn't too bad. Darcy finally came over with the first aid kit and Jane put some cream on the worst of it. "Hold on to this." Jane said, offering up the towel of ice. The response was immediate; with Fenrir sighing like all the pain in the world was gone.
"Thank you," He said. Jane suddenly realized that this was the first time that Fenrir had made eye contact with her.
"You're welcome," She replied.
"So I'm thinking cereal would be a good alternative since I think he broke the stove too," Darcy said. Fenrir turned around and realized the damage that he'd caused. Suddenly his eyes got huge.
"I'm sorry," He said, snapping around to look back at Jane.
"Don't worry about it," Jane said. "So…cereal?"
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Thankfully the rest of the afternoon was uneventful. They'd cleaned up the kitchen and she'd given Fenrir a tour of the lab. He'd then sat there like a statue while she'd checked the results that the equipment had actually given when Thor had landed. It was awkward but, after the morning she'd had, it was definitely an improvement.
Jane was relieved to see that Fenrir was grateful for the change too. He had in fact taken a book out of his coat and seemed content to sit and read while she worked. He'd even relaxed to the point that he only seemed to tense up when her or Erik got up, as opposed to every time that someone moved. Meanwhile Darcy had left to do whatever it was she did when Jane and Erik were working.
"You all are going to love me" Darcy said when she returned. "While you guys were trying to figure out the weight of gravity, or whatever it is you do, I solved our dinner problem."
"What problem?" Jane asked.
"The one where we no longer have a kitchen," Darcy said. "Plus I figured we should do something nice for Fenrir's first night on Earth. Make up for the whole, me making him touch hot metal…thing." She finished, looking briefly guilty.
"So you got pizza?" Jane asked.
"Please. The pizza in this town sucks. I got steaks. I figured we could grill," She said, before turning to Fenrir. "By the way the first rule of grilling safety is that if it's on fire, don't touch it." Jane thanked her and began finishing up for the day.
Luckily there was an old picnic table outside that they could use since no one wanted to repeat the experience of eating in the remains of plywood and plaster. While Erik grilled up, and Darcy contributed a running commentary on how they should be cooked, Jane decided to show Fenrir her trailer.
"I thought the other building was your home," Fenrir said, once they were inside.
"The lab is more of a group space. It's mostly for work but this is where I live," Jane explained. "I sleep on the roof most nights so I figured, if Thor isn't back in time, you can take the bed."
"That's not necessary."
"It's not a problem. I'm sorry it's not bigger." She said, looking around at the small quarters.
"This is fine." He said. "You've been more than generous."
"This must seem pretty different compared to what you're used to on Asgard," Before Fenrir could reply there was a smacking sound on the door.
"Dinner's ready," Darcy called. By the time they got to the table Darcy and Erik had already started. They were seated at either end of the table; Jane took the seat by Erik which left Fenrir with Darcy.
Sadly, despite better food, the dinner conversation was as awkward as ever. There was twenty minutes of forced small talk directed mainly by Darcy. The only difference between this and lunch was that Fenrir seemed especially fidgety. It seemed to Jane like every minute or so Fenrir was pulling to the side or jumping a little. Jane looked over to Erik and saw she wasn't the only one to notice the behavior.
"So is this the kind of thing you eat on Asgard?" Darcy asked.
"The meat is similar, but I don't think we have this animal," Fenrir said. "My uncle must love it though."
"What makes you think that?" Jane asked.
"It's meat," Fenrir stated, matter of factly.
"Oh, my god, Fenrir, did you just make a joke?" Darcy asked. Fenrir kept his eyes on his plate but wasn't able to quite suppress a slight smirk. "I'm so proud of you." Darcy said, giving him a quick one armed hug. Immediately the smile was gone and Fenrir looked like he was going to be sick long after she took her hand away.
"Actually, Thor will eat pretty much anything we give him," Jane said. "I think the only thing he hasn't liked so far was tofu."
"Which makes sense because it isn't really a food; it's mush pretending to be food," Darcy added. The meal then turned to Thor stories, which seemed to be a safer topic for everyone. A few of the tales even brought brief smiles to Fenrir's face. Things finally seemed to be going smoothly.
"I had to explain to him that just because it was ok in Asgard, didn't mean that it was a good idea to walk around town without a shirt," Jane said.
"Is that not allowed here?" Fenrir asked.
"No, in fact when you look like Thor it's encouraged," Darcy said. "Jane just got jealous because of all the girls drooling over her boyfriend,"
"I wasn't jealous. I just thought it was a poor use of our time to stop every five minutes so high school girls could pretend to trip into him," Jane said.
"Not just the girls," Erik muttered.
"It took us almost two hours to pick up a carton of milk!" Jane complained.
"Jealous," Darcy whispered to Fenrir in a singsong voice.
Jane continued to deny that she was, or ever had been, jealous but her case wasn't helped by the fact that her face kept getting redder. Erik and Darcy laughed and even Fenrir couldn't resist a small chuckle. Then Erik reached across the table to grab some steak sauce and Fenrir shot out of his seat and nearly flipped the table over.
"I didn't, I'm sorry," Fenrir said quickly once they'd managed to get the table settled. Then, after looking at the table and the mess of plates and food on the ground, he turned and ran. Jane and Erik both jumped up to go after him, but stopped when they saw Fenrir turn and dive into Jane's trailer.
"What are the odds he just really had to use the bathroom?" Darcy said, as they all stared at the trailer. Jane just groaned at her and headed for the trailer.
"Jane, maybe you should wait a while before going in there," Erik said. Jane ignored him and kept walking.
She found Fenrir sitting on the floor, with his back against the wall, and his knees pulled up against his chest. He was shaking his head and, for a minute, Jane wasn't even sure if he knew that she'd come in.
"Are you ok?" Jane asked.
"I'm sorry," Fenrir said. "I didn't mean to upset your meal."
"What happened?" Jane asked.
"I made a mess. I'm sorry."
"No, Fenrir, I meant why are you upset? You seemed alright and then all of a sudden you just ran."
"I thought that your friend was…that he was going, I thought he was going to hurt me." Fenrir said, looking ashamed. "When I saw him reach across the table I…reacted."
"He was just getting sauce." Jane said, trying to sound reassuring.
"I know that." Fenrir admitted, placing his head on his knees. "I'm a coward. Thor should have warned you about that before he left me here."
"Are you going to be ok? Do you want some water?" Fenrir turned to look at Jane. "I'm sorry; I never really know what to do when people are upset."
"I'll be fine." Fenrir said. "Could I…" Fenrir stopped himself mid request. Jane simply waited for him to finish. "Would it be alright if I stayed in here for a while?"
"Sure." Jane saw him relax a little and decided to keep trying. "Would you like to be alone for a while?" Fenrir seemed unsure of how he should answer for a moment before nodding. "I'll give you some privacy then." She said, heading for the door.
"You're nice." Fenrir said. Jane turned to see him looking at her. "I can see why my uncle cares for you." He said before lowering his eyes back to the floor.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Luckily the night was uneventful. By the next morning Jane was beginning to wish that Thor had been more specific with his return time. Every ten minutes or so she found herself searching the sky for a flash of a red cape. The sky seemed to be mocking her by being a beautifully clear and cloudless blue. Aside from a meal drop at breakfast she'd been trying to leave Fenrir alone. He seemed to be less nervous by himself in the trailer so Jane decided to let him have his solitude. Although she had thought it was strange when she'd come inside in the morning and found out that he'd slept beside her bed instead of on it.
She needed to talk to Thor. Not only about dropping off guests and leaving, or his failure to stick to a schedule, although those items would certainly be brought up in their own time. What she really needed to talk to Thor about was Fenrir. Thor had said that Fenris had been through a lot, and the fact that Thor thought he needed a sanctuary on Earth clearly meant things hadn't been good, but she needed to know what. Fenrir seemed to think that everyone he met was about to hurt him and he was so grateful for any show of kindness given to him that Jane was starting to think he hadn't seen that kind of treatment in a long time. The more Jane saw of Fenrir, the more she needed to know what had happened to him.
Lunch came and went and there was still no sign of Thor. Even Darcy had started scanning the sky with binoculars in hopes of spotting him.
"Have you tried calling him?" Darcy asked, coming in from her most recent Thor watch.
"A dozen times," Jane admitted. "It's not even ringing, and all I'm getting at the Tower is Jarvis. He says Thor got there, but that's all he'll say."
"You said he was going to be back in a day. Even if he's counting all twenty-four hours he's missed his deadline by, like, a lot," Darcy said.
"We've noticed," Erik said.
"Well what's the plan here? We can't just leave him in your trailer forever," Darcy said.
"Don't you have a test to study for?" Erik snapped. For once Darcy took the hint and left the room.
"I'm going to try calling the Tower again," Jane said, standing up. It would be another four hours until Darcy spotted Thor out the window.
Authors Note: So my usual beta is studying for a major test this week. Any review that you can give would be helpful. Plus I really do love reviews.