Loretta leaves Asgard with Jane the following morning. She stays a few days, then another week. Loretta weakens and is admitted to the hospital. She tells Jane she won't be leaving it. She is tired, but she sees the weariness on her daughter's face.

"Oh honey, you've done an amazing job keeping vigil, but you need to go be with your friends for a little while. A day, the weekend, whatever. I'll be here when you get back."

Jane shakes her head, "The doctors say it could be any time. I'm not leaving."

"The doctors aren't me. You need to go see that sweet boy of yours."

"But-"

"No. Jane, you're wilting. You've been on your own here for too long. You hardly even see Erik, even when he does come here to visit. Go back to Asgard. Let them help."

"I don't want to miss..." Jane doesn't want to say what is coming.

Loretta sighs, "Sweetheart, I'd be fine if you did, so long as I knew you were being taken care of. That's my biggest worry. And now that I've met your family, I know you'll be OK. You're one of them, now, and that's beautiful. Go, let Loki take care of you for a few days. You need him just as much as he needs you."

Reluctantly, Jane returns to Asgard. First she goes to see Odin.

He allows her into his study, "I did not expect you to return so soon. Heimdall tells me you have been taking care of your mother."

"Yeah. She's not doing well. And I need to be there with her. To be a part of Earth again. I can't take this. I feel like there's a wedge between us because I'm one of you. I can't have that. And the scientists here don't talk to me anyway. I'm bored. I want to work. And I can't do that there if I'm practically immortal, by Earth standards. Can you undo the spell?"

Odin studies her, "Yes, but it will likely kill you."

"I don't care at this point- I'll risk it. I just need to be like Mom again."

"How much time do you need?"

"An hour."

"Then let us make sure our timepieces are set alike." Jane thanks him before leaving. Odin sighs and settles into his chair. "This is no time for her to be making this sort of decision." He picks up his book and checks his clock. One hour.

Jane returns to her rooms, writes a quick note to Darcy, and tucks it under the vase at her table. She writes another to Fandral. And then she goes to the gardens to sit in the tranquillity of the falling fruit tree petals. They tickle her skin and stick in her hair and in her clothes. She smiles. She wonders what it will feel like for her year to catch up to her body all at once. She checks her watch again. It is nearly time. Fifteen minutes. She shakes out her clothes and hair and heads to the dungeon.

Loki is at his desk when she arrives. He stands and greets her with a kiss on the forehead.

She shakes her head, "You might not like me very much when I tell you what I did today."

"Oh?"

"I told Odin to release the spell."

Colour drains from his face, "Oh no...no...no..."

"My mom's dying. And being one of you feels like something that's putting distance between us. I can't keep it. I'll miss you."

"You'll die." He rests a hand on her cheek.

"You won't. I'll die after the tie's broken."

"That's not the point! When?"

She checks her watch, "Ten minutes."

He pulls her close, "Jane..."

"I'm so sorry."

He sits her down on the bed and kneels beside it, reaching up to stroke her hair. He closes his eyes and begins murmuring something, his fingers tracing across her shoulders, down her arms, and across her chest to her heart and lungs.

"What are you doing?"

"I can make it so you might survive, change this, do something-"

She shoves him back, hard, a flash of anger, as she leaps to her feet, "If you do this to me without telling me, you're no better than them!" He falls, his rear hitting the floor and before he can catch himself, he is on his back.

He pushes himself up on his elbows, yelling, "You would leave me alone, just like the rest of them!"

They stare at each other, breathing fast; Loki breaks first, "Oh gods, you're right. I'm so sorry, Jane..." She sits down slowly as he shifts onto his knees and inches to the bed, "Please..." He sets his hands on her knees, pulling himself up to face her, "I shouldn't have."

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have said it."

"No, you were right to remind me. May I sit beside you?"

She nods and he sits snug against her, "Thor never left you. Even when we thought you were dead. There were a lot of late nights when he was grieving for both of you. He told me a lot about your childhood. About every time he felt he screwed up and pushed you aside. He blamed himself for your death for the better part of that first year. It was...tough. But you've never been alone, Loki, even when you thought you were."

"I know. There was also always Sigyn. And now there is not."

She weaves her fingers through his, "You're still not alone."

"Please, don't do this, Jane. I...I don't want...I can't..."

"I just...Mom's dying. She's only got a few days left. I need to be as present with her as I can. And she just keeps saying that I'm going to outlive her for so many lifetimes. I don't know what to do. And you're not like them, you're not the same. You're just hurt and scared, same as I am, and you just wanted to help and you don't-"

There is a clatter and shouting from in the hall and she turns her eyes to it, her sentence dropping off; Loki turns her face back to his, "No. Go on."

Thor's voice echoes off the walls, "NO! Father, why did you? How could you let her?"

Jane winces, but Loki shakes his head, "Focus. Right here. These are likely our last few moments. What do you need to say?"

"You don't want to hurt me or to see me hurt. And you're right, I'm abandoning you and that sucks and I suck and I don't want to do it but I feel like I have to choose between my friend and my mom and I'm so sorry, but Mom wins and-" she is crying, her thoughts rapid. Loki knows the seconds are ticking by quickly. He takes her face in his hands kisses her. She hears the barrier crackle away in the background, but it doesn't register to her what it is she hears. Her only focus is on the gentle lips against hers.

He tilts her head down so their foreheads rest together, his voice hardly above a whisper, "I'm sorry, Jane. I should have let you finish."

"No...no. That was...unexpected. But just what I needed." Their conversation is quiet- for their ears only, even as they are being watched.

"It was the only thing I could think of."

"Is that the only reason?"

"No."

She smiles, "Thank you. And I'm so sorry I'm leaving."

"May I please try to save you the only way I know how?"

"No. This either works or it doesn't. I don't want you feeling guilty if you fail."

"Please...I won't be able to forgive myself for doing nothing."

She takes one of his hands, pressing it against her heart, "I'm asking you. As your friend. As your wife."

"I cannot mourn a second person so dear in such a short span..."

"I'm not Sigyn."

"No. You are Jane. I cannot let you die- it will stab far too deep. I need you."

"But Mom needs me, too."

He is pleading with her as her heartbeat raps against his fingers, "Don't leave me. Don't go. I can't be alone again. Not after I've known this."

"You'll be OK. I left a note with Darcy and Fandral. They'll take care of you."

"It isn't the same- please, Jane, I... I wouldn't kiss either of them."

She chuckles, "Oh, are you sure about that? You and Fandral..."

He smiles, "Oh, I assure you, those kisses were very very different."

"How?"

"In your heart, you know."

"Yeah. I do."

His fingers bump her watch, "The time. What is the time?"

She checks, "Um...did I not feel it or something?"

He sits back, confused, his brow furrowed, as he checks the watch as well, tapping the surface, "Is it working?"

"Second hand's still moving."

He looks towards the barrier where Odin and Thor stand, "Is this some sort of trick?"

Odin shakes his head and steps forward, "No. But neither did I lift the spell. This sort of decision cannot be made in such intense emotion. It leads to regrets and loss. I know this perhaps most dearly." He nods to Loki.

"But...but she asked..."

"Her mother asked that I act in her stead. Loretta would not have allowed her daughter to die. And so neither did I. Had I denied Jane to begin with, she would have been angry, perhaps missed her mother's last moments when she let her anger cloud her vision. Had I done it, she would have died, her mother left alone in her end. There is no wedge between you and your mother, Jane. She loves you dearly. And she is in awe of your life here. You are right that she needs you with her, but she needs you there alive and that means you will be one of us when you return. It is how I can guarantee that you do return- and for his sake, you must."

Jane lets his words sink in for a few moments, "Oh..." She starts crying and falls against Loki. He holds her and rocks her, gently humming to her, a lullaby his mother once sang to him, a song that still soothes him.

He looks up to Odin, "Thank you."

Odin bows an acknowledgement and turns, beckoning for Thor to follow.

"But Father-"

"No, Thor. Leave them. They do not need you."

"But-"

"No. You lost her." He places a hand on Thor's arm, "And you are coming with me now. We have a few things we need to discuss."

Jane sobs into Loki's shoulder, his hair damp against her face, for what feels like an eternity. She has cried herself to sleep.

She is dozing against him when Darcy and Fandral run to the cell, frantic. He drops the barrier and she trips into the cell.

Loki holds a finger to his lips, "She sleeps."

"Oh thank god, she's not dead."

Fandral holds out a piece of paper, "She left letters saying she had asked Odin to reverse the spell."

Loki gestures for them to come closer and sit; Darcy plops on the floor while Fandral brings the chair from his desk, "She did. And while Odin gave her an hour and let her believe he would do it, he did not. He wanted her to understand why he had to say no without inciting her anger. It worked. She is alive."

"I'm going to miss her mom," Darcy says, "She's a great lady. And I think she'd be an amazing second mom to you, too."

"She is an amazing woman, what little of her I have known."

"Will Jane return to her in the morning?" Fandral asks.

"I will give her an hour to rest, but then she will return home."

"Then we will leave you to your thoughts. But do send for us if you need us."

Darcy stands and takes Fandral's hand, "And tell her if she ever scares us like that again, I'm going to revoke her ice-cream rights." They leave the cell and Loki gently eases Jane down on the bed. He tucks the quilt around her and pulls his desk chair beside the bed. He sits and reads until the hour is up and he gently rouses her.

"Wake, dear lady. You have things yet to do this day."

She sits up, stretches, and perches on the edge of the bed, feeling a bit awkward, "So. I guess I need to go back. I...I'll see you soon. I think."

He nods and spreads his arms, "You know exactly where to find me."

She stands, "Bye then."

He rises as well and hugs her, "Until next time, Jane Foster."

She leaves quickly. Loki returns to his bed and drops onto the pillow, hoping Jane decides to return to Asgard.