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A/N: Thanks to those who kindly reviewed and favorited/followed. Thanks as always to dristi5683. She's working on a new story you'll want to read!


Day 175

Mojave Desert: Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility

"Get up, Jane."

"Who are you?"

"That isn't important. Get up, Jane."

"Did you destroy that—that thing? Is it gone?"

"It's gone for now. The next time it comes back, you will destroy it, Jane Foster."

Some buried cache of memories had been resurrected; fragments of forgotten dreams haunted her. Jane wondered if this is how a person felt who had awoken from a coma: distracted, overwhelmed, struggling to assimilate what she had known with what she was finding out. Why had she suppressed these memories? What did they mean? Could she trust them?

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?...You are the most beautiful man I have ever seen."

And he is. It's unsettling. She is terribly attracted to him, but that seems dangerous. He has displayed too much power to be safe. Wasn't Lucifer said to be the most beautiful of the angels? Aren't moths fatally drawn to flames?

"I'm here to teach you to conquer the Destroyer."

oooOOOooo

"More turkey, Erik?" Darcy stood holding the platter in both hands, looking expectantly at the scientist.

He waved his hands, as if in surrender. "No, thank you, I couldn't eat another bite. It was delicious, though."

Darcy wiggled her eyebrows in Thor's direction. "How about you? I roasted this bird myself, dude."

He chuckled and reached for the meat. "I believe I will have some more, thank you. Volstagg would be proud of me." Several slices of turkey joined the pool of gravy waiting on his plate.

"Jane? Would you like seconds?" There was no answer. Darcy discreetly nudged her. "More turkey?"

"Oh, uh, not for me, thanks."

Darcy continued around the table, flirting as she offered seconds to those who'd gathered to celebrate. "Save room for pie, Agent Cooper! Thanks, Agent Hendricks. Dr. Silverman! How's it going in the medical bay? You're supervising physician now, right? Congratulations!"

When it had become obvious they would be spending the holiday at the SHIELD facility, Darcy had concocted a plan. Some well-placed hints, a sprinkling of sweet talk, and voilà! JDEF had its first Thanksgiving dinner.

Darcy finished her rounds and sat down next to Jane, who was staring vacantly, lost in her thoughts. Again. She leaned over and spoke softly into the physicist's ear.

"Hey."

Jane jumped and glared at Darcy. "What?"

Lowering her voice even more, Darcy said, "Any chance you might act halfway normal? You're making it pretty hard to cover for you. People are getting curious. At least three agents are watching us right now."

Jane's eyes darted around the table. She tugged the sleeves of her oversized sweater further over her wrists.

Darcy continued, "Laugh like I've told a joke, then help me get the pies."

Jane shook her head, then pushed back from the table. "I need to go, uh, do...something."

Without taking her leave, Jane left the dining room. Several sets of eyes swung toward Darcy, who shrugged and laughed.

"Scientists, right?"

oooOOOooo

"You hurt me."

"You wanted to run, but you needed to stay and face your fear."

He frightens her. He frightens her, and he pisses her off. If he is here to teach her, he needs to learn a few things about teaching.

Jane stumbled briefly, then leaned against the wall of the corridor. She pulled in a few deep breaths before continuing on her way.

oooOOOooo

Erik watched Jane disappear, his brow furrowed. If she was headed for the lab, she'd be disappointed. The key card locks had been disabled so all personnel could attend the Thanksgiving meal.

Maybe it had been a bad idea to bring Jane to JDEF. A couple of weeks ago, he had thought that working on this project was doing her good; she had seemed more and more like the pre-Destroyer Jane. She distrusted SHIELD, but Erik had hoped that after the initial culture shock, Jane would recognize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity the government agency offered.

His team had a staggering budget, state-of-the-art equipment, a well-trained pool of assistants and techs, and a great deal of freedom. Well, professional freedom, anyway. They had a green light to explore any theory or perform any experiment in the quest to understand the capabilities of the Tesseract. This arrangement came at the cost of personal privacy, of course. He had nothing to hide anyway.

But Jane wasn't flourishing as he had expected. She smiled and claimed to be just fine, but he had known Jane for too long to be fooled. He heard the forced note of cheer in her voice. He noticed the makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes. He knew she tried to hide her poor appetite by having dinner sent to her room. She was hiding something from him. Erik realized he wasn't on the moral high ground here, but he was protecting her from a relapse of PTSD.

Thor disagreed with him. The Asgardian had repeatedly asked him to tell Jane about Loki. He also had noticed Jane's odd behavior and suggested that she could have deduced the truth. Erik had dismissed the possibility. If Jane discovered he was withholding critical information, she would immediately confront him. She wouldn't quietly withdraw. Not the Jane Foster he knew.

oooOOOooo

She was almost there now. One more corner, one more corridor. Her vision clouded; another memory washed over her.

"I owe you an apology. I regret my behavior."

She gapes at him. He's apologizing? This mysterious man, this force of nature, humbling himself to her?

"I accept your apology. Thank you."

She feels safe. How is that possible? How is that wise?

"Who are you?"

...Kai…

"I'll keep you warm."

...his delicious scent, his nearness…is this possible? Is this wise?

Jane stood perfectly still, straining to remember. There was more, she knew there was more. Something...there.

"Search for solar activity...compare it against the Tesseract's activity…

"Trust me, Jane."

oooOOOooo

"Scientists, right?"

Thor looked up to see Jane's chair empty and the dining room door swing shut. He leaned toward Darcy.

"Darcy Lewis, where has Jane gone?"

Darcy shrugged again. "I'm not sure, um, but I think she said earlier that she had stuff in her room to go over."

Jane Foster was not well. He knew about the terrible affliction that had visited her after Loki sent the Destroyer; Erik Selvig had shared in greater detail than Jane had. Thor longed to comfort her, but she wasn't his to comfort. That was clear to him after their conversation a fortnight ago. She had been gentle in her rejection, but a rejection it had been. Still, they had promised to be friends, and friends looked after one another.

Thor turned to find Erik Selvig's eyes on him. He nodded, then rose from his chair.

oooOOOooo

"I'm going to stop it before anyone gets killed."

"It's just a dream."

"I don't care."

The metal doors of the lab finally loomed before her. Jane fumbled in her pockets for her key card and slid it through the reader, frowning when the doors failed to unlock. She squinted at her card, relieved to see she had swiped it backwards. But a second try produced the same result. The doors were locked.

"Are you suggesting that the Tesseract and the Earth's sun are related to Thor's travels?"

"It can't be a coincidence."

"Let me in, please. Please!" Jane wasn't sure to whom she was talking, but her eyes were dry, her vision blurry, and her bones ached. She had to get in that lab.

She laid her forehead on the cold steel and repeated, "Let me in. It's me."

The door softly snicked open and Jane only just managed to catch herself from falling.

"Thanks," she called, before realizing the cavernous lab was dark and silent. Who had opened the door?

"Hello? Is someone there?" Suddenly nervous, Jane blinked into the darkness. A soft blue glow pulsed what seemed like a welcome from the middle of the room.

"I don't—I'm not sure if I—" Jane snapped her mouth closed, wondering whom she was answering. This was ridiculous. She pulled the door shut behind her and stood still, allowing her eyes to adjust. The blue glow grew stronger, washing the arena-like space with its cool light.

The automaton thuds to Earth. Kai stands guard, a towering angel of vengeance, all dark, sharp edges. She recites: "Algiz, Sowilo, Hagalaz, Thurisaz, Uruz." The steel Goliath crumples like a tin can, scattering debris.

She doesn't want to wake up yet.

"Kai!"

"What do you need?"

"We've got to figure out what role the Tesseract plays in this drama so we can direct it."

This was her time for asking her questions. Her wrist burned, the strange pattern like a brand. She rubbed the mark with her right hand, again finding herself oddly comforted by its ridges and whorls. Slowly, she approached the Tesseract. Her heart pounded, but it was from anticipation, not fear.

The colander-like shield had been replaced with the solid one made from the skin of the Destroyer, but still the light shone through. Jane laid her palm on the shield, feeling the ever-present pull. Impulsively, she unlatched the shield and uncovered the cube.

"Hi."

In response, the Tesseract flared and danced. Jane was reminded of a dog wriggling with joy at its owner's homecoming. She smiled at her own foolishness—who else would compare an ancient, deadly energy force to a common house pet? But she couldn't stifle the giggle that bubbled up, couldn't deny the affection she felt for the artifact. Was she crazy? She didn't know anymore; she hadn't been sure of her sanity for several months now.

Where and how should she begin? How long did she have before someone found her here? While Jane sorted out her thoughts, she absently twisted locks of her hair and stared at the intense, shifting colors in the cube.

"You're so beautiful," she whispered, "like my very own nebula." Another memory tickled the back of her brain. A nebula in miniature…

"I see the stars in your eyes...they're gorgeous."

Jane closed her eyes and cocked her head, patiently coaxing the memory to come closer, to crystallize. She reached for another lock of hair and froze, stunned by the sensation of returning remembrance. The day Thor caught her pulling her hair in this same way, he had plaited her hair, and she had experienced déjà vu so strongly it had frightened her.

"These braids feel complicated, like weaving."

She had said that to someone else before she had said it to Thor. Now she remembered that she had looked up into eyes that were marbled like a nebula. But whose eyes were those? And why did the mesmerizing swirling of the Tesseract look so much like those dream eyes?

Pushing up the loose sleeve of her sweater, Jane exposed the triangular brand on her left wrist. She studied the now-familiar series of knots before slowly extending her arm toward the cube. Jane whispered, "Do you know who gave me this? Did you invade my dreams? Did you do this to me?"

oooOOOooo

Thor hadn't found Jane in her private quarters, so he headed toward the lab. He knew the room was supposed to be off limits this afternoon, but he also knew that Jane Foster nearly always found a way to get what she wanted.

Fluorescent lights washed the sterile corridors in a half-hearted illumination. This was not the most attractive part of Midgard, this cold steel and concrete fortress, liberally decorated with plastic. He missed Asgard. He wished for the palace, with its rooms decorated in silk and priceless tapestries, majestic fireplaces constructed of honest wood and stone, and the presence of his parents: his mother's soothing comfort and even his father's taciturn judgements. He longed for the training grounds, where blood, sweat, and even tears often flowed, and where his closest friends could always be found.

Since Loki had fallen, the Warriors Three and Sif had been of great encouragement to him. Especially Sif. She was a fine warrior and a fine woman. Her perspective and insights were invaluable to him; he intended to appoint her as one of his primary advisers when he was crowned king. How he wished Sif could counsel him now on dealing with Jane Foster. He really hadn't any idea what to say or do when he found her.

He rounded the last corner and hesitated before accelerating into a sprint. Blue light, so bright it made him squint, beamed from every tiny space above, between, and under the lab doors. Shielding his eyes with one arm, he tore the lab door open. A column of blinding light shot from the unshielded Tesseract and the ceiling. At the base of the column stood a small figure with long brown hair.

oooOOOooo

Chitauri Space: The Sanctuary

He had been mistaken, he mused. He had called this place black, bare, and ugly. It was bare, to be sure, but it wasn't all black, and it wasn't all ugly, especially if you had forgotten the living gold of daylight. Deepest blues and purples undulated in the distance of space, cradling stars like diamonds against velvet.

Loki wished for sleep. His body was weary, his bones ached, but that wasn't going to be solved by a few hours of rest. No, what he longed for was the balm for his soul that was found in his dreams. He never recalled any faces or events from these dreams. That mattered not. For a blessed while, his broken spirit was mended, his restlessness stilled, his torn heart soothed. He was content. He was home. It was enough to give him strength to continue this doomed existence. Loki could not imagine what benevolent deity thought he deserved this respite, but he was embarrassingly grateful for it.

His eyelids had no sooner closed when a painfully garish light flashed through them. Scowling ferociously, he sat up. Who had dared disturb his rest? A heartbeat later, he sprang into a fighting crouch as his brain processed the significance of the sparking, pulsing ring. He would be ready for whoever or whatever came through that portal.

oooOOOooo

"Jane!" Thor flew across the lab and into the physicist, knocking her to the ground. Without checking on her welfare, he swung around and yanked the shield over the artifact. Light still suffused the large room, but the column had disappeared.

Thor turned back to Jane. She was pulling herself to a sitting position. He knelt down next to her.

"Are you all right? I'm sorry I hit you so hard. I was afraid—what were you doing? What was going on? Why are you here alone?"

Jane raised her hand to silence him. "I'm fine, just shaken up."

"Thor! Jane!" Erik shouted from the door.

"We're in here," said the Asgardian.

Several people ran toward them, but Thor kept his eyes on Jane.

Darcy's voice carried over the hubbub. "What the—oops! I mean what in tarnation happened here?"

Jane pulled her sweater into place, pushed her hair out of her eyes, and shook her head. "I don't know." She tried to stand up, but Thor placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Just wait. Don't get up yet."

Darcy knelt on the other side of her. She leaned in and whispered, "Are you really okay?"

Jane nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"How did you end up on the floor?"

"Thor shoved me."

Darcy whipped around. "Thor Odinson!"

That forced a pained chuckle from Jane. "Leave him alone, Darcy. He thought he was protecting me."

This time Thor came up for air. "Thought? I was most definitely protecting you."

Two sets of sturdy shoes stepped into Jane's line of sight.

"Protecting her from what?"

"Hi, Agent Malone!" sang Darcy. To Jane, under her breath, "I'm telling you, he looks like Harvey from that new show, Suits."

Jane rolled her eyes. "When have I had time to watch television, Darcy?"

Erik interrupted, "What are you two going on about?"

"Suits!" chirped Darcy.

"Thor," Erik tried, "could you help us here? Dr. Foster and Ms. Lewis don't seem to be terribly communicative at the moment."

Thor remained kneeling, gaze fixed on Jane. "I pushed Jane to the ground because she was one second away from being transported through a wormhole."