Erin sat on her room's balcony in the morning light reading through the paper copy of the first draft for Thor's biography. For some reason she hated it. It just wasn't as good as Steve's had been and it was all down to her lousy writing. The pages were crowded with so many red scribbles and notes it was nearly impossible to read any of the original contents, not that it mattered to Erin. She was after all an expert in deciphering her own hand.
"I made the coffee myself today." Jane announced as she joined her friend on the balcony with a silver tray in hand.
"That's good. Thank you," Erin didn't look up from the page as she spoke but Jane caught her friend's grateful smile. "Asgardians have a surprisingly bitter taste, don't they?"
"They do," Jane chuckled. "What time did you wake up this morning?"
"I rose with the sun like I always do now." Erin sighed.
She placed down the atrocity that was the biography onto the table between her and Jane, swapping her pen for a blatantly out of place Mickey Mouse mug full of sweet coffee. She didn't say anything as she sipped the drink and Jane let the conversation rest for a time as they both gathered their thoughts.
"You've been working since then?" Jane frowned before lifting her own tankard to her lips.
"Yes. I'm still caught up in the frenzy from last night." Erin admitted as she resumed her work.
Once again Jane hesitated. On the one hand, Erin was getting dangerously close to her obsessive writing state but on the other, her friend was still eating, drinking, sleeping and bathing so there was no need for another unnecessary fight yet. Colour still lingered in Erin's cheeks and they had done so for a good while now. As long as she was looking after herself Jane wouldn't complain. She didn't like to do so anyway, especially as she had other things to worry about.
Out of the corner of her eye Erin could see Jane begin to chew on her bottom lip. It seemed slightly out of character for her as did the long pauses. Normally Jane would try and get Erin to talk and if she wouldn't then the scientist would chat away at her before going to lock herself in the lab. Either way Erin never minded what Jane did. It was nice to have the company really. Steve used to do the same a lot of the time and when he didn't speak he was listening to music with headphones in and cleaning or cooking usually. He would read a lot too and tell her about the interesting things he found out. The quiet had been so much more bearable with Steve. With Jane it was weighted which meant something was clearly wrong.
"Is Thor not back yet?" Erin tried to act casual by keeping her eyes fixed on the paper in her lap. The hesitancy in her tone was a dead giveaway though that she could sense something was wrong.
"No." Jane sighed, taking another sip of her coffee.
"I'm sure he'll be back soon." Erin tried to sound comforting by believing it herself. How could she though when she had absolutely no idea what was going on?
"You're probably right. It has only been a few days." Jane tried to reason with herself but the fear for her husband was unreal. He'd promised to be back by now. There was no word from him or the other Asgard warriors about what had happened or their new plans to return which made Jane feel like something had gone drastically wrong.
"Hey, it'll be okay," Erin put down her pen to take Jane's hand. "He's strong and wouldn't dare risk anything if it meant he might not come home. They're probably just playing it safe."
"Does that sound like them at all?" Jane reminded Erin.
"No, it doesn't. But still, what else is there to say? Other than you need a distraction, so come on." As much as she'd rather not, Erin put her things down and pulled Jane to her feet. The truth was that she needed a break anyway so helping Jane out wasn't a problem in the slightest.
At that moment in a distant realm Thor's hammer sailed through the smoke-filled air, finally shattering a mirrored wall into a million glittering shards. The blood from headless and dented enemies coated Mjölnir's engravings, slowly dripping onto the rubble as thousands of shadowed beings scuttled out from their hiding place to join the fray.
A hundred feet away Thor wrestled with a fierce demon whose complexion resembled exactly that of curdled milk. The beast didn't smell much better either as Thor could only choke on its odour as he struggled to worm his way out from under the monster that was more than double his own size. The thing had him pinned to the floor of a shallow fountain. It wasn't deep enough to drown him but still Thor had to contend with putrid green water splashing into his mouth and ears. Cracks and the crumbling of the alien city around them were drowned out by the hiss and click of the vermin as it tried to decapitate him with razor sharp pincers. As he struggled, Thor attempted to reach for his hammer but his arms kept being pinned by one of many shelled legs. At least they were easy to snap off but the alien didn't register the pain if it felt it at all.
Then, after seemingly hours of tangling with this one beast, there was a mighty cry and it split in two. Sif perched on the rim of the fountain's lowest basin sword in hand. She rolled her eyes at Thor who barely had time to sit up before she was off again, running into the thick of the oncoming swarm. With no time to lose, Thor stood and successfully recalled his weapon to him.
"Watch it! You nearly hit me with that!" Tony whined as he looped through the air just to show off more than to evade the trail of things scrabbling over one another to launch themselves at him.
Thor just smirked and began to smash the smaller ones at his feet with the same enthusiasm a young boy might display whilst playing whack-a-mole. The big ones were nearly all gone now anyway. At least that meant no more children being spawned.
"Heads up!" Steve yelled as his shield sailed through the air to slice a steadily growing monster in half.
"Be careful where you're throwing that!" Sif barked, catching it as it nearly sliced her shoulder and returning it with more force than necessary.
Steve caught it and apologised before turning around. An entire building was crumbling on the other side of the plaza as the mother of all the vermin they fought entered the battlefield. His eyes widened and Steve found himself muttering a prayer before launching himself at the beast in a distraction attempt so that the others could scale the hundred feet up to its head and destroy it once and for all.
"Well, that could've gone better." Tony admitted as he landed down beside Hogun who was bandaging up Steve's bleeding head wound.
Most didn't say anything but several dirty looks were thrown Tony's way as the others began to drag themselves together in order to leave. Thor on the other hand appreciated his friend trying to make light of the events that had just happened however he needed to point one thing out.
"You and Steve volunteered to help us. You have every opportunity to remain at home with Doctor Banner."
"Yeah, well that would've been boring." Tony retorted.
Steve didn't want to listen. He just wanted to be taken to Asgard. He was itching to go, even though he could barely get to his feet. This hadn't been part of his plan at all but when Thor gave him the chance to go back to where Erin was after this whole ordeal was over, well, how could he refuse?
"Thor, we need to go. The natives want to start cleaning up and I'm sure your wife is waiting." Sif nudged Thor with an elbow.
At the thought of Jane, Thor beamed. After some minor bickering they left the ruined city and headed back to the hilltop where they would take the rainbow bridge back to Thor's home world. On the way back Steve couldn't help but become distracted by guilt as he saw the floods of… well, to him they were people. People whose home had been threatened and whose home he had destroyed in order to protect them. The money from Earth would be of no use to these people and he disliked it a lot.
"Don't worry. We'll send aid to them once we have returned home. They are under my protection after all." Thor reassured him, noticing the glum look in Steve's eyes.
"Good. They don't deserve to have to fix this alone." Steve nodded. His eyes remained dull though as he fought to contain how much he ached. He would walk alone until he saw Erin. He had to.
They resumed in silence, walking side by side with their eyes trained forward to the horizon. Each one was so lost in their thoughts that no one noticed the smallest white creature clinging to Thor's cape beneath his hair.
Steve found Erin with Jane in one of the gardens. They were playing fetch with a couple of large dogs as they walked among the potted plants in the midday sun. He expected them to be talking, laughing but the pair were silent as anything. Still, there were smiles lighting up their faces. Smiles which doubled in size as Thor swept past Steve, who was concealed in an archway, and all but ran to his wife. Steve wasn't interested in Thor and Jane's reunion though. His eyes were locked on Erin who watched them with teary eyes. He could see from this distance that her hands were trembling. She must have realised this as she quickly clasped them behind her back.
Erin could feel eyes on her although she had thought they were quite alone in the garden. Curiously, she began to search for the source of her feeling and then stopped dead as she saw him. Half hidden by the arch leading back inside, Steve stood leant against a pillar staring at her. In the shadow she could just about make out the bandage around his temple and the ones wrapped around his arms. He was still in that ridiculous new uniform they'd designed for him. The one that kept ripping so show off his blood. Erin's heart sank as she saw how hurt he was but she couldn't. She couldn't let herself feel for him. Maybe he wasn't even there. He shouldn't have been there. He was meant to be on Earth. But if he was, well then he was hurt. And he was offering out his hand to her, beckoning her. She couldn't turn him down.
Steve was more than shocked when Erin began to move towards him. He had expected to have to close the distance but he hadn't wanted to in front of Thor and Jane. He knew they hadn't approved of any of his actions lately regarding Erin and they were quite right about it. He had been so wrong and now was his chance to admit that to Erin in person.
"So you're really here then." Erin stated in a dull whisper once she was close enough. She had stopped a foot away from him, not daring to get any closer.
"Yes, I am." Steve nodded. He was trying to keep in control and not startle her with a waterfall of words. It was like approaching a rabbit or a deer. Taking it slow was the best way to begin.
"I was wondering if you'd come back." Erin admitted softly. Her head was cocked to the right as she looked Steve up and down. She was assessing his wounds but he felt like she was judging him. He didn't like that feeling.
"I- I was going to write you a letter but then something came up and I figured it was better to see you myself." Steve told her truthfully. A letter wasn't personal enough. Besides, he craved seeing her face again.
At his words the light vanished from Erin's eyes. "There's nothing more to say here. I'm not better."
"You don't need to be. We can make this work-"
"Steve, stop. Go home and get better. Then go out, find a girl stronger than I am and move on." Erin demanded bitterly.
"You are strong though. You just don't see it." Steve refused to accept Erin's opinion about herself.
"I see everything." Erin snapped back.
"Not everything, clearly." Steve replied, trying to keep neutral. He didn't want to fight about this.
"You let me go. Why are you still here?" Erin began to raise her voice but no one was around to notice. Thor and Jane had vanished through another exit to the garden meaning that they were alone.
"Because you're my dream girl. I've always known that and I was a fool for letting you go." Steve's voice cracked under the pressure of his self-loathing.
"It's time to get a new dream Steve. This one is turning into a nightmare."
And with that Erin was done. Head held high, she walked back over to the dogs and began to lead them off towards anywhere that was away from Steve. It killed her to do it but she had to fight the impulse to run back to him. Such a good person didn't deserve to be dragged down by her innate unhappiness after all. Maybe she was improving but there was a lot more to be done yet and she wouldn't be worn down by some semi-serious injuries and a small amount of begging. Each of them was worth more than that.
Thor's cape was left lying in the hall outside his chamber doors alongside one of Jane's shoes. The small creature that had clung to it all this time was nowhere to be seen but then again, no one had known it was there in the first place.