Around five in the morning the phone in Ava and Loki's hotel room rang. "What the hell?" Ava muttered as she rolled over and picked up the receiver and then slammed it back down.
"Who or what was that?" Loki asked.
"I have no idea." Ava answered. Just then the phone started ringing again. Ava groaned as she picked up the phone and held it to her ear. "Who is this and do you have any idea what time it is? For crying out loud, it's still dark outside!"
"Well, that's the way to greet your dear friend who even has coffee for you." Jenny's voice came over the line.
"Well, at five in the morning don't expect little miss sunshine." Ava replied. "Why are you calling me at five in the morning?"
"I got a call from my cousin, Jane, last night. She's on a plane that arrives at the airport at seven. I thought you might want to come with me to pick her up."
"You could have called me last night."
"I didn't want to interrupt you and Lawrence last night." Jenny replied.
"And you thought waking me up at five in the morning would be a better idea?"
"Yes. I'm in the lobby and as I mentioned, I have coffee."
Ava sighed. "Give me five minutes." She then slammed the phone down on the receiver.
"What was that about?" Loki asked, still half asleep.
"Jenny is going to the airport to pick up her cousin and she wants me to go with her. I'll only be gone a few hours."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"Just go back to sleep. I should be back by the time you wake up."
"Okay." Loki agreed, closing his eyes and quickly falling back to sleep.
Ava untangled herself from the blankets and climbed out of bed. She headed for the bathroom and brushed her teeth and hair. She dressed in a pair of jeans, her boots, and a green lace trim tank top under a black sweater. She grabbed her jacket, scarf, and gloves and kissed Loki on the cheek before heading down to the lobby. Jenny was there awaiting for her as she'd promised.
Jenny held out her hand, offering Ava a large cup of coffee. Ava took the beverage and the two women headed out to Jenny's car and hopped inside. Ava sipped at the coffee. "So, Jane's the scientist, right?" She asked.
"Yeah." Jenny answered.
"What brings here out here?"
"She said something about how she's been tracking some signatures of some kind or other and that last night they appeared here in the forest just outside of town." Jenny answered.
A nervous feeling spread in Ava's stomach. "Is that the first time these signatures have appeared in this area?" She asked.
"No." Jenny answered. "Apparently they appeared back in mid-November and then again in December, just before Christmas."
It must be the bi-frost. Ava thought to herself. "That's odd." She said, aloud.
"So, why did you and Lawrence get married so quickly?" Jenny asked, changing the subject.
"We just wanted to and we didn't want the hassle of a big wedding." Ava answered with a shrug.
"And you're sure you're not pregnant?" Jenny asked. "I mean you are kinda moody."
"Any normal person would be moody at five in the morning." Ava countered. "And I'm positive that I am not pregnant."
"If you say so." Jenny replied with a skeptical tone.
Ava rolled her eyes. "When you find the man of your dreams and get married, I'm going to insist that you're pregnant."
"You just got married awful quick." Jenny replied.
"Alright, we're stopping at a drug store on the way and I will take a test while we wait at the airport to prove to you that I'm not pregnant."
Jenny grinned as she flipped her turn signal and pulled into the parking lot of the local drug store. Ava ran in and purchased a pregnancy test. Then she and Jenny were on the road again. They arrived at the airport around six-thirty. They parked and headed for the bathroom. Ava read the instructions on the back of the test package and then headed into a stall. She emerged five minutes later holding the test that had a single pink line. "Negative." She announced.
"Well, I'll leave you alone about that now." Jenny said.
Ava tossed the test in the trash and washed her hands. Then she and Jenny headed out of the bathroom and out into the airport to wait for Jane. Seven arrived and the plane landed. It took about a half hour longer for everyone to finish getting off the plane and finally Jenny spotted Jane. The two cousins embraced briefly. There were two other people with Jane, an older man, and a slightly younger woman.
"Well, I'm glad I have an SUV." Jenny said.
"Sorry." Jane said. "These are my friends and colleagues, Eric Selvig, and Darcy, my assistant."
Jenny nodded. "This is my friend, Ava."
Ava waved. "Nice to meet everyone."
The group headed to grab the luggage, which was quite a bit. They rolled it out to the car and loaded it up. Once it was all loaded, they piled into the car. Ava road shot gun, Jane and Eric road in the middle row, and Darcy road in the third row. "So, you guys are doing some research?" Ava asked.
"Yeah. We may have found a huge break through." Jane said. "It could open up new worlds for us."
You have no idea. Ava thought. I have got to tell Loki and Thor about this.
A/N: Well, I'm feeling moved in a completely different direction than when I'd initially started this story, so I'm no longer making this lead up to the movies. I'm taking a creative license and changing everything. I hope you enjoy :)