A/N: My chapters are just getting longer and longer. . Dang, I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing. Oh well, 'tis what it 'tis as Thor would say if he was a fan fic writer. ;)

First of all, I meant to do this in the other chapter where I had JH doing his little joke about Jeremiah the Bullfrog. I realise a lot of my readers will be too young to get the reference, but if you go to YouTube and type in 'Jeremiah was a bullfrog', you'll get multiple links to the song 'Joy to the World', a pretty famous song covered by multiple artists. I love it and yes, Jerry would be way too young to know about that song. LOL

Next I just want to say that even though I'm taking a bit longer to get these chapters out (so sorry about that :( ) and I'm cramming a lot in, it's only been a two days since the big Defenders reveal and all in all, it'll only be three days before the big showdown. So yes, it's happening quickly in 'story time' but it's taking me a bit to write about it all. But at least I'm starting to give some pay offs in this chapter and the next to some of the balls I launched into the air, hopefully you'll find it entertaining enough that it'll justify the complicated nature of this story. ;)

Okay, on with the show and there should be an update tomorrow...

Chapter Fifty

Thor shifted his weight nervously from one foot to the other and tried to calm down his nerves. This was ridiculous. He'd been less anxious going into battle against Mangog, armed only with a stick. At the time it had only been his life at in danger and Thor was finding out that it was a much scarier thing to have your heart at risk. He knocked on the door of the apartment Jane was staying in, located on the outskirts of town. There was no response, so he knocked again. It had only gone eight o'clock and Thor didn't think it likely that Jane would be asleep already. Possibly he should wait until morning but he'd second guessed long enough about seeing her and now he just needed to know if she still felt the same way about him that he did about her. A dog barked off in the distance as Thor took a step back and looked up at the windows on the second floor. There was a light on and he contemplated once again climbing up through it but then remembered Bruce Banner's stern resistance to the idea and reconsidered.

Instead, Thor walked around to the side of the house where there was a large sliding glass door. A light further in the house was on, so that had to mean Jane was home but not hearing his knocking for some reason. He pulled on the handle of the sliding door and it gave a brief resistance before it glided easily across its runners and granted Thor access. Stepping into the darkened room, Thor looked around. He appeared to be standing in the living room but there was still no sight of Jane. He walked towards the beam of light he could see under the door to the next room. Thor had to turn left down a corridor to get it and as he did, he was met with a guttural scream and then something very hard was contacting with his face. Thor gave a muffled grunt of pain and staggered backwards. He bent over, putting a hand to his aching face as another blow was delivered to the back of his head. Thor dropped to his knees but his fighting instinct had kicked in now. His hand snapped out and grabbed the wrist of his attacker, preventing them from executing another blow to his unprotected head. His gaze connected with the wide eyes of Darcy Lewis, rooted to the spot with a frying pan above her head, Thor still holding onto her wrist.

"Oh," she gasped, clearly in shock, "Thor."

"Hello, Darcy Lewis," he greeted her calmly. "It goes well to see you again." Thor grimaced as he felt the pounding in his head. "Mostly."

Darcy dropped her arms down and shot Thor an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were someone breaking in. Are you alright?"

Thor stood up and rubbed his nose. "Aye, I shall live."

The pretty brunette fixed him with a bright smile. "At least I didn't hit you with a car this time," she noted before giving him a pointed look. "Although, if you're going to keep popping up unexpectedly like this, you've got to kinda take your chances with that."

"I knocked."

Darcy indicated the little white earphones which were dangling around her neck. "I didn't hear, I was listening to my tunes."

"I did not mean to frighten you," Thor apologised.

Darcy shrugged. "Hey, I've got the fry pan, I wasn't worried."

Thor had to smile at the small, feisty woman in front of him.

"Darcy, did you just scream? Was it that squirrel again? I told you, you can't leave food out."

Thor's heart skipped a beat at the familiar voice and then Jane appeared at the top of the stairs on the other side of the room.

"This time we attracted something a bit bigger than a squirrel," said Darcy wryly as Jane descended the stairs.

Jane gasped when she got halfway down the stairs and could see them properly. "Thor."

Thor turned around and could feel the huge smile on his face. "Hello, Jane Foster," he greeted her, unable to take his eyes off the woman who'd occupied his thoughts from their very first meeting.

Jane's long hair was tied up on the top of her head in a haphazard fashion and she was wearing grey sweat pants and a white t-shirt with the words 'Particle Physics gives me a Hadron' on it. Thor didn't really understand what that meant, more intrigued by the woman under the shirt then what was written on it. She put a self-conscious hand to her hair and looked uncomfortable at being caught out with no makeup and looking such a mess. Jane quickly pulled her hair out and brushed it through with her fingers in an attempt to look somewhat feminine.

To Thor, she looked utterly perfect and he couldn't help himself. "You have grown even lovelier since our last meeting, Jane Foster, I did not believe such a feat to be possible."

Jane grimaced, clearly not convinced by his words.

Darcy seemed to agree. "This must be true love." Darcy held up the fry pan she was still holding. "But I also hit him a few times in the head with this, so may also be brain damage. Too early to tell which way it's going to go."

"There is no damage to my brain," said Thor quickly. "My eyes play no tricks on me, your beauty is without equal, Jane Foster." It was making him nervous that Jane wasn't saying anything.

Jane finally moved from her spot on the stairs and walked across the living room to come and stand in front of him. She craned her neck back to look at him carefully. "Why-what are you doing here?"

He cleared his throat. "I wished to see you," he said quietly.

"But you've been on Earth for so long now," she said unsteadily. "Why are you here now?"

"I wanted to be sure I was doing the right thing in coming to see you," he said honestly. "I have thought of you day and night since our last meeting and I can no longer stay away." Thor made a regretful face. "I am sorry that I do not bear an orang-utan on our first meeting after so long, Jane Foster, but know this, I wish I was."

"Okay," said Jane slowly as she and Darcy exchanged confused looks.

Darcy mouthed the words 'brain damage' to her friend as Jane sent her an exasperated look. "Why did you hit Thor in the head with a frypan?"

"Why did the guy come creeping into our house in the middle of the night?" replied a defensive Darcy. "All I saw was this dark shape. I thought it was a bear!"

"And your weapon of choice against a bear is a fry pan?" asked Jane in disbelief.

"My weapon of choice against a bear is a shotgun, but seeing as they're not that great for frying eggs on, our kitchen only had the fry pan," Darcy shot back.

"You could have killed him," said Jane unhappily.

Darcy snorted. "The guy has fallen to the earth, been hit by multiple cars, faced off against a crazy, giant monster and his lunatic brother and been fine. I don't think a fry pan would have been the straw that broke the demi-god's back."

"I am indeed unharmed," agreed Thor, even though his head still ached. "T'was my fault for frightening the maiden."

Darcy waved her fry pan around. "Once again, not afraid, got the fry pan."

Thor inclined his head. "Indeed, you wield thy weapon with much effectiveness."

"Damn right," said Darcy in satisfaction. "If you were a bear, I would have kicked your ass."

Thor was still having difficulty looking away from Jane, there was so much he wanted to say to her that he didn't know where to begin, despite having rehearsed this first meeting endlessly in his head. Jane stared back at him and it was hard to read her expression in the low light.

Darcy looked back and forth between them as the silence lengthened. "Okay, well, I'm just going to go and umm-" She looked at the cooking utensil in her hand. "Ahh… go and fry something, in my room, I guess."

Thor and Jane were still just staring at each other as Darcy walked by them both as she headed towards the stairs. As she passed Jane, she hissed a request to her. "Ask him about the orang-utan thing, enquiring minds want to know."

Jane wrinkled her nose and didn't reply and then there was just the two of them.

Thor wished he was better at understanding women. "You have not spoken many words to me, Jane Foster, do you harbour ill feelings against me?" Thor braced himself for the answer.

"You disappear out of my life as quickly as you appeared, then I see you on TV fighting in New York and then you're gone again and then you're back in New York, living at the Avenger's Tower for over a month and in all of that time, you never think to contact me," said Jane unevenly.

"I thought," said Thor hastily, "I thought a lot, Jane. You were always with me."

"But I could have been with you, with you," she said unhappily. "If you wanted me to be."

"I was not sure your life would be better for me being in it," said Thor sincerely.

"I feel like I should have had a say in that," pointed out Jane.

Thor half-smiled as he thought of Tony and his similar observation on the subject. "Another has already said those words to me. I hesitated in my purpose and the longer I waited, the less sure I was of what your reception to seeing me again would be."

"I should be really mad at you," Jane said shakily.

His blonde brow furrowed. "Aye." Thor wasn't sure what to say next. He really did wish he had that orang-utan now, because that would have surely made this easier.

Jane's face softened. "I missed you," she said huskily.

Thor's heart leapt a beat and he couldn't help the smile on his face. "Truly?"

A smile was playing around Jane's lips. "Truly."

"I wish to kiss you now, Jane Foster," said Thor softly, "but I understand if you do not wish to entertain my advances after the way I-" He didn't get further as Jane simply launched herself into his arms. A surprised Thor reacted instinctively, wrapping his arms around her and kept Jane's feet dangling off the ground. Her kisses were even more maddening then Thor remembered and he was instantly undone by the woman in his arms.

"Don't go away again," she whispered against his lips.

Thor had no ability to deny her any request now. "Nae, I will stay with you as long as you wish me too, Jane Foster." That was a big promise on Thor's behalf because of his life in Asgard but he knew he meant it. No matter what the future held for him, Thor knew in that moment Jane had to be a part of it.

oooOOOooo

Clint strung another arrow to his bow as Natasha walked into the armoury training room. "So?"

"So?" she repeated back to him.

"So what did you find out?" Clint lined up his shot.

"About what?"

"About Maggie," said Clint as he let go of the string and landed a perfect bullseye on the target at the other end of the room.

"What makes you think I was investigating Maggie?" asked Natasha coolly as she came to stand beside him.

"Because it's you and you don't trust anyone," said Clint simply as he restrung his bow.

Natasha was unapologetic. "It's my job not to trust anyone."

Clint let fly his next arrow and it landed neatly next to the first. "And you're amazing at it."

Natasha gave him an intent look. "That was a backhanded compliment."

"I just meant that we're the same, we don't trust easily or often." He smiled at her, restringing his bow. "That's one of the reason what we have is so special." Clint wondered if she'd rise to the bait with that little hanging statement.

Natasha didn't. "I didn't find anything. Margaret Riley is everything she says she is. There is nothing even slightly out of the ordinary about her records or history."

Clint lowered his bow and looked at Natasha with interest. "But?"

"But nothing," said Natasha, looking away. "She's clean."

"But you've still got reservations," Clint countered.

Natasha shrugged. "Maybe it's the brain tumour talking. I've got nothing to base this feeling on."

"Except all those years in the field and those finely honed instincts of yours."

Natasha frowned. "But what if I'm starting to lose my ability to judge these things?" she worried. "You heard Doctor Weinberg, he said the tumour had grown. Maybe it's affecting my cognitive abilities. Maybe I'm not fit to make those kinds of calls anymore."

"I've never heard you second guess yourself before, Nat." He gave her a lop-sided smile. "It makes us mere mortals feel a little better to know you have doubts about yourself every now and then." He nudged her with his shoulder. "And that is all this is, you know. You're letting this tumour thing get in your head." Clint wrinkled his nose. "You know, I meant figuratively speaking, rather than what is literally happening."

Natasha half-smiled. "I knew where you were going with that."

Clint nodded in satisfaction. "That's because we're so simpatico."

"Do you really think that?"

"I've always felt like we had a bond between us, right from the start."

She shook her head. "I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about trusting my instincts."

"I'd trust you and your instincts with my life any moment of any day," said Clint without hesitation.

"Blind loyalty can get you killed," Natasha warned him.

"It's not blind loyalty," he argued. "Hey, I've got as good a survival instinct as the next person and I'm not looking to get dead any time soon. I know you, Natasha and I know what you're capable of and some little tumour isn't going to knock you out of the game." He winked at her. "I've got the pom poms which go with that pep talk, in case you're interested."

Natasha smiled at his teasing. "I'm not."

Clint was undeterred. "If you like you can show me your pom poms at the same time," he teased her. "We can shake them together."

"You're horrible at flirting," she informed him.

"Then why are you smiling?" he countered.

Natasha wasn't going to let him have the last word. "It's a nervous tic."

Clint grinned. "Aha, so I make you nervous, Agent Romanoff, is that what you're saying? I like it."

"The Hulk makes me nervous," she shot back at him, "you just make me-" Natasha hesitated.

"Yes?" he prompted, watching her with keen interest. "Finish that thought."

"I just did," she sassed him, "just not aloud."

"Man, what I wouldn't give to be a mind reader right now," Clint mused. "I guess I'll just have to settle for being roguishly handsome, funny and a brilliant field operative instead."

"You've been hanging around Tony Stark too much," said Natasha dryly.

Clint restrung his bow and faced the target. "Is that such a horrible thing? After all-" He paused taking aim and sent Natasha a cheeky look. "The guy did get the girl after all." Still holding her amused gaze, Clint let the arrow go, knowing without looking that it was going to be another perfect bull's eye. She hadn't punched him after that little statement, that could only be a good thing he concluded and his smile widened.

oooOOOOooo

Steve looked across the restaurant table at Maggie and made an apologetic face. "I'm sorry the others didn't go for your ideas, Maggie."

Maggie gave a philosophical shrug. "You tried to warn me but I was too pig-headed to listen. Oh well, I gave it my best shot and it's not like I don't have plenty of other clients to keep me busy. I just wish-". She stopped abruptly and looked away.

"Wish what?" Steve urged her.

Maggie looked to be hesitating as she turned back to him. "I've been watching the news with all the things the Defenders have been doing and I couldn't help but think-" She stopped talking again.

Steve frowned. "Maggie, what is it? What do you want to say to me?" He wasn't used to the usually forward Maggie being so hesitant.

"Alright," said Maggie, "I'm just going to say it. I'm watching the Defenders and all I can think about is the potential they'd have with the right person leading them, someone other than Justin Hammer. That guy is obviously a glory hog and pretty deluded, but those heroes he's gathered around him are just that, heroes, and they've been proving it to the world. I can't help but wonder what they could become if they had a real leader to stand behind."

Steve half-frowned. "Where are you going with this, Maggie?"

Maggie leant over the table, her expression earnest. "I saw in that meeting with the rest of the Avengers that they don't give you the respect you deserve, Steve. You're the original Avenger, the first and you're a proven great leader of men. What are the others? A self-involved billionaire, a reclusive sometimes rage monster, a man not even from this planet and two spies whose real loyalties lie with SHIELD. They don't know what it is to be a leader of men, they're all loners one way or the other. You're Captain America, the stuff of legends."

Steve shook his head. "I'm not better than any of them."

"No," she said urgently, "but you're different. You know what it is to be a part of a real team, to fight for something bigger than yourself. Your selfless sacrifice for your country and all of its ideals saw you lose everything and yet, you're still here, fighting the good fight and not getting any respect for it. Look, we all know Hammer is a douche who can't be trusted, you just have to look at his history to see that. He only thinks he's important now because he has the Defenders behind him, making him look good. I just know that if they were given a chance to meet you and see what kind of a man you are, they'd be willing to be led by you." Maggie reached out and covered Steve's hand with her own. "Think about it, Steve, you could have a real team again. You could have a team which respects and listens to you and you could be part of something amazing and productive, rather than a group of broken misfits who don't know how they fit into the world. You were born to lead, Steve, and if the Avengers can't see that and take advantage of it, then maybe the Defenders will. Those men are in need of a true leader and that person isn't Justin Hammer."

Steve stared at Maggie, momentarily lost for words. Her earnest declarations had honestly shocked him. "I-I can't believe you're saying this to me," he said at last.

Maggie squeezed his hand. "Think about what I'm saying, Steve," she urged him. "The Defenders aren't bad, they're just being led by someone who is. You need to save them from Hammer's agenda, whatever the hell it might be. They're just pawns in a bigger game being played, a blind man can see that."

Steve looked down at her hand covering his. "You want me to leave the Avengers and defect to the Defenders?" he asked in disbelief.

"I want you to consider where you can do the most good," said Maggie genuinely. "Be honest, Steve, you can't tell me that most of the Avengers' time is spent dealing with issues, both personal and corporate between you all. The Avengers aren't a team, they're a train wreck. Imagine if all that energy you put into simply being around each other could be channelled into doing good? You'd make such a difference in this world."

Steve let her words slowly sink in, their meaning impacting on him as he was hit with a surprising epiphany. He let it wash over him, wrapping his head around the magnitude of this realisation. "You know," he said quietly, everything suddenly very clear to him after months of confusion, "I think you're right, Maggie..."

A/N: Hmm, a little twist in the tale right at the end of this chapter. Did I catch anyone off guard with this last scene? ;)