Part XIV

Loki didn't want to see her. He didn't even deign to face her and tell her he didn't want to talk to her; he sent a servant to tell her no, he would not see her.

That hurt. Granted she had been planning to leave without saying an official goodbye, but still. It hurt. And, she had partly expected it. Thor was angry on her behalf, but Jane told him not to bother. Loki had his own crap to work out as far as Jane was concerned. Feeling as though she'd caused enough problems already she made Thor promise to be patient with Loki. Even defend him to Odin now and again. Thor promised, albeit grudgingly.

The one person that did want to speak to her before she left though was Frigga. For some reason facing her made Jane well up in tears. Probably because Frigga had always been so kind and maternal to her. She had often kept Frigga at arms length because of Odin, but Jane knew that wasn't fair to the Goddess. Frigga had welcomed Jane to Asgard with open arms, and she did love Loki so very much. Funny how that made people all right in Jane's book now: how well they treated Loki.

Standing together on the Rainbow Bridge, Thor went ahead to Heimdall leaving Frigga and Jane to speak. First thing Frigga did was hug Jane. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Frigga asked.

The question made Jane start to cry. Tears fell from her eyes as she gave into the hug and held Frigga tight. "No. But what I want and what I should do are two different things."

"I know you love my son, Jane," Frigga whispered and pulled back to look at her. "And I know how very much he loves you. He will come for you."

"Thor and I talked about it, Frigga, and I don't think—"

"I am not speaking about Thor."

Jane just looked at Frigga, speechless.

Frigga took Jane's hands. "I understand your need to return to Midgard. To sort this all out, perhaps even, given your kind nature, to make things better for Thor and Loki."

Jane nodded.

"But do not leave thinking that Loki does not love you and that his refusal to see you off means he does not care. He does. He feels things so deeply, my son, he…doesn't always handle it well when his feelings are bruised."

"I know," Jane whispered.

Frigga smiled sympathetically. "I know you understand him. You do more than any other."

"No, I don't think that's true."

Frigga nodded.

"How do you know all this anyway?" Jane asked. "About Loki and I?"

Frigga's smile was mysterious, a bit of mischief behind it. "Not much escapes my notice. Where do you think Loki has learned so many of his tricks?"

"Jane, the time is now if you are going to do this," Thor called out.

Jane held up her hand to signal to him to wait a minute and he nodded. She looked at Frigga. "Will you watch out for him? I mean, I know you will, but you know with his tendency to self-destruct—"

"I will," Frigga promised. "He will come for you, Jane."

"I don't know about that. Maybe I am making a mistake by leaving, and maybe I will regret it one day soon, but I just can't hurt everyone and turn more people against me and against Loki. I don't want to be the cause of more of a rift between Odin and Loki. Loki says he doesn't care but I know on some level he does. I don't want him to regret me one day either." Jane felt a fresh batch of tears begin to prick her eyes. "Will you tell him…? Will you tell him that I love him?"

"He will want to hear it from you," Frigga said. "And he will."

She sounded so sure, but Jane was not. She hugged Frigga once more. "Thank you for everything, Frigga."

"You're welcome, dear. See you soon."

Jane wasn't sure about that, but she didn't have the heart to say anything about it. She turned with a wave and jogged to join Thor.

It was time to go home.

The Bifrost was swirling loudly, practically causing a tornado. It was not conducive to real goodbye for her and Thor, but Jane figured they had said all that needed to be said earlier.

He simply hugged her tight and with a voice cracking with emotion wished her well. She wished him the same, kissed his cheek, and off she went.

There's no place like home, she thought, as the Bifrost whooshed her away.

XXXXXXXX

Loki stayed in the tower, far away from everyone and everything. He'd watched from there as Jane had been taken away. His hands dug into the stone balustrade he stood before and he forced back tears that threatened to fall. No. He would not cry. She did not deserve his tears. She was leaving him; abandoning him. Just as everyone always did in the end. He ignored the ache in his heart. He'd be fine in a day or two. He'd forget all about her in time and move on. Maybe she was just a symptom of something he needed to take note of: perhaps it was time to take a consort. A Midgardian consort would never have done anyway.

"Loki."

Loki stiffened at the sound of his mother's voice. "Mother," he said without turning.

"Jane has left."

"Has she now? Well. Bully for her."

"She asked me to tell you something."

"Yes? What is it?"

"She loves you."

"No she doesn't," Loki blurted out bitterly. "If she loved me she wouldn't have left me."

"Oh, my son, have you not stopped to consider that she left for you?"

"What are you on about?" he asked angrily and faced her finally. "You make about as much sense as her."

"Loki, Jane didn't leave because she didn't love you. She left because she does. She feared the rift her staying would cause between you and Thor, between you and your father—"

"I don't care about either of them," Loki hissed.

"Do you care about me?"

When it came to his mother, Loki always softened despite how much he didn't want to. Instead of answering her directly, he pursed his lips together and let her know by the look on his face that he found that question ridiculous and tiresome.

"Do you think I want my sons to be at odds with one another? Do you think I enjoy that?" Frigga asked.

Frustrated, Loki looked away from her.

"If I didn't think that Jane was the best thing to have ever happened to you, Loki, I would be very upset that she had caused the rift between you and Thor to grow wider. The repercussions this all could have had if Thor and Sif were not better suited for one another than Jane and Thor. Jane knew this. And she didn't want that for us. She cared about us that much. About you and your place in the family."

"Maybe I don't want her, Mother," Loki said with false bravado. "Maybe what I wanted this whole time was to just seek revenge on Thor by taking Jane away from him."

Frigga shook her head. "You can't fool me, Loki. You can't even fool yourself this time. I knew from the moment you met her that you felt something that would change your life forever."

"Sentiment," Loki snarled.

"Yes, and you're full of that sentiment right now."

"Don't push me, Mother. You won't like the consequences."

"If the consequences are you eventually pulling yourself out of your melancholic fits and going to Midgard for Jane, then I would actually like that very much." With that, she left Loki stunned by her words and contemplating them for half a second before his hurt and his anger took over and he shoved the inclination to go after Jane down. She wanted to go and she went. That was the end of that as far as Loki was concerned.