A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating this! I needed to finish up "While Thor Was Sleeping." Also, you'll notice that this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. That was by design. It is serving more as a segue for chapter 22.

Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly, then your love would also change.

And then there was now.

Now, on Jotunheim.

Now…in the ice.

Now…so splendid a touch, a time, a feeling.

The immediacy and heat of urgency and time, stopped stark in the grey of mist and cold…

Now was what he felt, after so long he languished in impatient wait. It fell upon him, and he nearly crumbled under its press.

Yes…a song…yes…a promise…yes…a truth, a word.

He looked at her, she was smiling.

He noticed that she was holding his hand now…now…

"Yes?" he asked, not quite believing. Did she mean what he thought she meant?

"Yes, I'll marry you," Jane's eyes were steadfast, they clung to his gaze, desperate to convey the complete honesty of her intent.

He shook his head, his breath a vapor in the air…though he felt it but little, his skin in the moment, savoring her acceptance. "Nay…it cannot be so. I must be sleeping in the Giant's room, you next to me…and your presence is conjuring this vision."

"I'm here, Loki. I'm here…I'll happily be your wife."

He swallowed and smiled. "Jane…?"

"Yeah?"

And if Loki Odinson ever felt as though he might cry, it was now.

Now…

Words failed him, so he took her face in his hands, and he kissed her mouth…soft at first, then a growing passion overtook them. Hands fell, backs caressed in tender touch, dropping lower…"Jane Jane Jane Jane…" he said, pulling away from her, but he was smiling. "Here, in this Realm, this dreaded, hateful place…you said yes," at that, he took a step back, and opened his hand to reveal a small purse in his palm. "Therefore, never shall I despise it utterly. I couldn't hate anything, now that you have accepted me."

Jane touched the small bag slightly, then took it from his hand. "What…?"

But Loki only nodded, indicating that she should open it; and when she did, she spied the ring that she had admired on Vanaheim, its amaranthine coruscate subtle yet demanding. She looked at him with a hint of a question playing upon her features.

"'Tis your engagement trinket, Jane."

"Trinket…?"

"Aye. On Midgard, one receives a ring…is that not so?"

And she recalled then the conversation they had had on Vanaheim…when Loki had said that he would purchase it for her and present it to her once she had accepted him.

"That is so, yes," she replied, taking the ring delicately from the confine of the purse. She slipped it on her finger, and looking up at him, smiled. "Thank you."

"It is not meant for thanks. It is a promise, a vow…we are to be joined…" and he heard it, in the distance…voices in anger…

"What is it?" Jane couldn't hear, her mortal ears untrained as they were in the silencing snow.

"Seekers…guardsmen…they hunt for the escapees…"

"Us?" Jane wavered an attempt to discover what he meant.

Loki just nodded, and took her hand. "We are leaving to the far end of Jotunheim, Jane…just for a short spell…ready?"

She nodded…

…but before they left, Loki waved his hands and the farm vanished…snow covering the scene in its wake.

…..

They landed outside of a small inlet. The ice was thick, and Jane shivered…she looked around and noted that they were inside of what appeared to be an igloo…Loki's head nearly touched the ceiling…domed in ice and snow.

"What happened to the farm?" Jane said, a demanding lilt to her tone.

"I camouflaged it. Disguised it so that they would not notice it. I also sent Alviss and Nadja to sleep," he paused. "They may or may not remember all that happened when they awaken," he smirked and sat on the frozen floor. Loki looked out of the mouth of the igloo/cave onto the frozen water just beyond. "So…" he began.

"You saved them," she sat next to him.

"I did," and he looked at his hands…

"You grew to care about them."

He looked at her now. "In a manner of speaking, I suppose."

Jane smiled. She nodded. "That was why I said yes."

"Pardon?"

"Well," Jane now looked out onto the ice…so white, it was almost blue. And she thought about how Loki's hair was so black it was almost blue…and wondered why these contrasting colors, when at their very deepest and truest, they both resemble blue…

"I had been ready to accept you on Muspelheim. But then…everything changed, and we ended up here," she giggled. "I guess that things just weren't right. Not the right time and stuff…and when I saw you with the Giants, I thought, 'He has changed. Changed in his own right. Changed because his life demanded that he does so…not because of me. Because of him.' And I thought that there is no better way in which to grow," she looked at him now. "I've loved you for as long as I can remember, Loki. I've loved you when I didn't want to. When I had to, because you were all that I had. When things were most dire, when they were most hopeful…I always had my love for you."

"And so it shall remain," he leaned in, and kissed her mouth softly. It escalated, and he had her on her back, against the ice, ravishing her. "Jane…I love you…and I swear to you, so long as I have breath, I shall love you…" his hand roamed down her body, caressing her in a way that left her breathless, but also what she had not experienced heretofore with him. It was desperate, profound, intimate, and demanding. "On all I hold dear…" his tongue traced the curve of her jaw as she stuttered out a breath. "On the stars above, on brilliant sky which first drew me to you…" he slipped his fingers under her shirt…"On Midgard's very moon…"

She laughed at that.

He stopped. "What is funny?"

"The moon, Loki?"

His eyebrow cocked in question.

"She is a changeful celestial being. Would your love change, then?"

He swallowed. "Dare I argue with an astrophysicist?" he propped his elbow up and rolled off of her. "My love is as constant and as steadfast as the comets which roam your sky, Jane. Is that metaphor more to your liking?"

"How about our sun…? Burning with heat and purpose?" she kissed the hollow of his neck.

"That'll do," and he tore open her shirt.

"Loki! It's too cold here for this!" Jane protested.

He grunted and waved his hand. And a soft heat descended on the small chamber…she was no longer cold.

He waved his hand once more, and some of their bedding appeared.

Again, and Jane had no clothes on.

Once more, and neither did he.

He reached for her…"Allow me, dearest…" and he had her on her back, and he was caressing every inch of her…down to her center, he teased her sex with his tongue, and Jane was awash with emotion and sensation. Her back arched and she cried out…and as he made his way back to her mouth, she heard him say, "My wife…"

Tangled now in the afterglow of love, Jane sighed, laced her fingers in his. "When should we do this?"

"This?"

"Marriage? Ceremony?" and it suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea how they would go about this. He was a Prince of Asgard. She, a mortal of Midgard.

Was any of this even possible?

"Ah…well…perhaps we should think about this for a moment," and Loki sat up and magicked his and Jane's clothes on.

Jane's breath hitched. Something bad was about to happen. Something was going to hinder their movement…but if that were the case, he would never have been so insistent that they marry. "Loki…is this not possible?"

He stood now. "Of course it's possible, Jane. But we, of course, cannot marry on Asgard."

"Of course."

"Right. So…we must choose another Realm in which to wed."

"Another Realm?" Jane stood now, and she thought that this was obvious…why was he even bothering with this conversation?

He turned to her. "Jane. Where would you like to marry?"

She shrugged…there was Niflheim…that was where she first discovered that she loved him.

There was Vanaheim, where she had experienced such domestic bliss with him.

Alfheim…wherein they experienced the pure magic of the Realm. Where she had learned to let go and let him…

Muspelheim, where she had decided that she would, in fact, marry him.

And Jotunheim, where she accepted him.

But none of these places meant anything to her in particular. Her love for Loki was quite independent of geographical place.

Independent of any particular time.

Independent, indeed, of anything she had ever experienced…

Perhaps that was her pause. Everything had been so incredibly different…so foreign…from her traipsing around the Tree with a convict of Asgard…to falling madly in love with him…she desired familiarity. She desired kin…something to hold onto…

Loki took her hand.

He smiled at her.

Jane swallowed, and was about to speak, but he placed a finger to her lips and shook his head.

…and the black closed in, she felt the press, and she reveled in the soft squeeze of experience now…

Now she knew him and what to expect from his magic. She knew him as well as she knew herself. As well as anything she had ever experienced…

So that when she opened her eyes, she saw a room.

She knew this room.

She hardly needed to ask…"Where are we?" smilingly.

"Midgard."