This chapter is a collaboration between ozhawk and myself. Enjoy!
Chapter Fourteen
Jemma didn't know how accustomed she'd gotten to sharing a bed with Loki until he wasn't there. Though it had been late when the engagement party fizzled to an end, once she finally got to bed, she couldn't sleep. She was cold, lonely, and thinking too much – so she got up, wrapped a robe around herself, and went for a walk in the darkened hallways.
She had ghosted around the halls for too long, gotten turned around, and just about given up on quieting her thoughts when she noticed candlelight filtering from a room on the other end of the hall. She'd never been down this hall before, and she had always been inquisitive, so she moved on silent feet to investigate.
Peering into the room – the most ornate bedchamber she'd seen yet – she saw it was empty. But there was a lit candle on the vanity table, and the doors to the balcony were open – and she heard crying coming from that direction.
Setting her own candle on the vanity beside the other, Jemma crept to the balcony doorway and looked around.
Just to the left of the door, leaning against the wall out of sight, was Jane, tears slowly making their way down her cheeks,
Jemma's heart clenched as it hit her where they had ended up – Frigga's rooms.
She kept her voice soft, hoping not to startle her new friend as she said, "Jane?"
The other woman jumped and attempted to wipe her tears away until Jemma laid a hand on her arm, letting her know without saying anything that it was okay to cry. Jane's head fell back against the wall again and she stared up at the stars, admitting, "I am so not ready for this. Not Asgard, not becoming royalty, not... gosh, not a baby!" She snorted. "I should've seen that coming though; stupid morning sickness and pregnancy hormones!"
"Your stomach and hormones could settle soon," Jemma offered, because she wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to say about the rest of it.
Asgard, royal status, marriage – those were uncertainties that she understood because she had them too. Maybe that was why she felt so inadequate to comfort Jane.
Her platonic soulmate seemed to understand, because she sighed and said, "Usually stargazing helps me calm down, but Asgard is in an entirely different system and I can't even think clearly enough to chart them right now."
Surely the idea of marrying wasn't so unsettling to Jane that it inflicted an inability to continue her studies, was it? "Before Odin's decree, did you think you'd marry Thor?"
"Eventually, yeah, of course. But once I was ready for it... for being here and starting a family. I know Thor's ready and he's already getting excited about the baby, I just, I don't know if I can deal with becoming a mom on top of everything else."
"You'll be perfect, Jane," Jemma said loyally. "If what little I've heard about Darcy Lewis is true, you've got the patience of a saint, and I know you've got enough firmness in you to put Loki in his place. You'll be a wonderful mother."
A half-smile tilted Jane's mouth as she admitted, "I hadn't thought of it like that."
"Well, now you have," Jemma replied with a smile of her own.
"You know," Jane commented, seeming content to move on to a different topic. "As much of a wreck as I am, I can't imagine being your friend right now."
"Skye?"
"Yeah. Do she and Fandral even know what they're going to do about their situation?"
"I'm not sure," Jemma admitted with a shrug.
"If I know Fandral as well as I think I do, he's not going to let her just slip away; he'll come up with a plan."
"Right now," Jemma pointed out, thinking of Jane's newly-revealed condition, "I think our plan needs to be to go back to sleep."
"I can't get to sleep here without Thor."
Jemma threaded an arm through Jane's and asked while steering her back inside, "In that case, how do you feel about a sleepover? You can be back in your room at sunrise and no one will be any the wiser..."
Loki couldn't sleep. Not without his little bird close beside him, her soft breath on his skin soothing him to slumber. He paced the halls angrily before finally losing his temper. A few whispered incantations cloaked him with invisibility; he still could not enter through the doors to Jemma's chambers though, not without having to open them and alert the guards to his presence, so he was reduced to going outside and literally climbing the walls to her window. Like some desperate lover from a Shakespearean play. He snorted at the thought, climbing gracefully over the edge of the balcony and moving to the open doors. It was a warm night, the curtains fluttering lightly in the breeze.
I am here for you, my Jemma – do you sleep as ill alone as I do?
He froze at the realisation that Jemma was not alone in her bed. For an instant his eyes glowed red and his skin began to shimmer blue – until he realised that it was Jane Foster who lay there beside his beloved, both of them peacefully asleep, hands just touching atop the covers.
Damn.
Still, he couldn't help but be glad that Jane and Jemma had each other. This couldn't be easy for either of them. For a long moment Loki watched the two women sleep, and then he moved soundlessly back out onto the balcony.
I wonder if sleep eludes Thor as it does me? But then Thor had spent many nights apart from Jane Foster, by necessity. The big lug probably slept like a baby. Now Fandral, on the other hand...
Loki smiled, clambering easily down the wall. They do say that misery loves company.
"I think I'm offended that you didn't invite me."
Thor and Fandral both started slightly guiltily at Loki's words.
"Brother!" Thor was quick to his feet, though. "I am sorry, I did not think that you…"
"Had heart enough to be grieved when I am denied my soulmate?"
"That's not what I meant!"
Loki took pity on Thor. "I know. No matter, Thor." He drew another chair to the table, reached for a cup. "Pour some of that mead, Fandral. Let us drown our sorrows together."
Fandral's mouth twitched, but he lifted the flagon and poured. "What cause have you to be sorrowful? Lady Jemma will be your bride in a scant few days, at your side forever."
"Indeed," Loki couldn't quite help what he was sure was an idiotically happy grin.
"Loki," Thor gave his brother a nudge, that almost shoved Loki off his chair. "And you say I am the insensitive one! Can you not see Fandral's distress?"
Come to think of it, their bearded blond friend did look uncharacteristically miserable. "What is the problem, Fandral?" Loki asked, bemused. "Are you not happy to have found your soulmate? I have heard so much of Skye from Jemma, she is brave and talented, and certainly beautiful enough to please the eye…"
Fandral was on his feet before he knew it, groping for the sword he wasn't wearing. "You will speak of my lady with the respect I show yours!"
Loki actually froze. "I apologise," he said after a moment. "I did not think, Fandral. Jemma calls her only Skye. I intended only to compliment you on your good fortune."
Thor acted the peacemaker, of course. "Fandral, pray sit down. Loki intended no insult. Come, we are all friends here. Neither Loki nor I would insult Skye any more than you would insult Jane or Jemma." He deliberately left off the Lady before all three names, and after a moment Fandral nodded and settled back into his seat.
Loki hesitated, eyeing Fandral. It really wasn't like the charming warrior to become so agitated. "What is it that troubles you, Fandral?" he asked finally.
"I am sworn to the throne of Asgard," Fandral said bleakly. "I cannot leave the Realm without Odin's consent – which he will not give, not until he is certain his decrees regarding the females of Midgard will be obeyed. And nor will I endanger Lady Skye by asking her to remain here. Without the protection of my name she would be vulnerable to – well, you know of what I speak. To those who will take time to accept that Midgardian customs are not ours and Midgardian women are not to be trifled with."
"She won't marry you?" Loki said thoughtfully.
"Why would she, so soon? Even though she is my soulmate, it is a very great thing to ask, to wed a man whom you have just met."
"Did you actually ask?"
Fandral blinked. "Well – not in so many words." To his horror, both Thor and Loki rolled their eyes. If those two were agreeing, he had clearly done something very wrong. "Should I have?"
"One thing that both Midgardian and Asgardian maidens have in common," Thor told him, "is that they all have a desire for romance, I have found. Even I had the sense to go down upon my knees and speak pretty words to my Jane when the time came to ask her to wed me. It softened her heart, I think, after hearing Odin's decree."
"Oh," Fandral took another drink of his mead. Loki topped his cup off, and they all drank in silence for a few moments. "Still," Fandral said finally, "even if I were to ask Lady Skye to be my bride, the fact remains that I could not bear to rush her into marriage. She needs time, to come to know me, to accept me. Intimacy – cannot be rushed."
Thor and Loki both looked at each other. Then back at Fandral. Then at each other again.
"You tell him," Thor said bravely.
"Haha no." Loki shook his head vigorously. "He already thinks I'm an immoral lecherous bastard."
"Which is why you should tell him!"
"Oh stop trying to pretend you're as pure as the driven snow, as if you and Jane haven't been…"
"I really don't want to hear about it!" Fandral interrupted as their voices began to rise. "And nor do I want to listen to either of you telling me that I should do anything dishonourable regarding my lady, because it's not going to happen!"
Loki drained his cup, beginning to feel pleasantly mellow. "What about a marriage of convenience?" he suggested.
"A what?" Fandral and Thor both looked at him blankly.
"Well, leading to more eventually, of course."
"I still don't understand…"
"It's a plot device, from Midgardian romance novels. What?" Loki asked when Thor and Fandral both looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Not that I've read any, obviously!"
"Are you blushing, Loki?" Thor said suspiciously.
"No! It's just the mead. Anyway," Loki rushed on. "A marriage of convenience is when a couple get married but don't actually live as man and wife. It could be done for any number of reasons, but in your case, Fandral, it would give you time to get to know Lady Skye. She could remain here on Asgard, protected by your name, but without any pressure to be, well, intimate with you until she – until both of you – are ready. It is no one's business how your rooms are arranged, after all, and I know well that your suite is large enough to give Skye her own private rooms."
"Maybe it's the mead," Fandral said after a few moments of contemplation, "but that really isn't such a bad idea, Loki."
"I'll drink to that," Thor said cheerfully.
"You'll drink to anything, Thor." Loki poured more mead for all three of them, though.
Skye really, really hated the chaperones this morning. After breakfast, Fandral had invited her for a stroll in the royal gardens, and she could tell he had something on his mind. But he was holding back, and their uninvited company was the only reason she could come up with for that.
Still, he smiled sweetly when they came to a lull in their conversation and plucked a bright pink flower from its bush. He swept her hair away from her face and tucked the blossom behind her ear.
"Beautiful," he murmured and Skye flushed scarlet.
They continued walking along the path hand in hand, silent now, and Skye made up her mind, resting her head on his arm and whispering, "What's on your mind?"
Fandral's leisurely gait stilled for a beat, but he merely cast her a surprised side-glance and kept moving, ever mindful of their chaperones. Looking apprehensive, he admitted, "I may have a plan for how we can do away with the chaperone irritation."
"I'm listening."
Fandral took a deep breath and it occurred to Skye that her soulmate was nervous as he said, "What if – and please hear me out – you and I were to marry within the next couple of weeks. No, please let me finish. I won't push my way in anything; it would simply mean we could do away with the All-father's restrictions and allow our relationship to progress however we desire – however would make you most comfortable."
Skye forgot to breathe for a second, but when she finally did speak, it was only an uncertainly whispered, "Me move to Asgard?"
"That would be the ultimate conclusion to our 'love story' regardless, wouldn't it? I thought you were aware of the fact that my oath to protect the Asgardian throne prevents me from permanently following you to Midgard. I don't expect your reply to this idea immediately, of course. It merely seems to me to be the simplest solution for where we now stand."
"I'll think about it," Skye promised solemnly, already doing just that as she added, "... and I'll give you my answer at the wedding."
Fandral smiled again at that and pressed his lips to the back of her hand with a pleased, "I eagerly await your decision, my beloved.
How, Skye wondered, feeling a little exasperated with herself, does he manage to fluster me so effortlessly?