A/n.: So for everyone, who has started to read this story a few months ago, I found out that in the movies is indeed said that Jane's father is not alive anymore, so I changed it ;-)... just so you don't get confused.
"I'd like a gin please." Loki said to the bartender, who came to order. He was sitting in the back of the bar - not looking like himself, watching and listening to the two men sitting awkwardly next to each other at the counter.
"I had it all backwards." Thor said with a sad frown, more talking to himself than to Erik. "I had it all wrong."
"It's not a bad thing to find out that you don't have all the answers. You should start asking the right questions." Erik replied to show him that he understood.
Thor looked at him thankfully for the listening ear. "It's the first time in my life that I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."
"Anyone who's ever going to find his way in this world, has to start by admitting he doesn't know."
The god looked at the man surprised. He hadn't suspected him to be so wise.
"Seems Darcy's a terrible intern, but a talented hacker." Erik stated, to change the subject of the conversation.
"Thank you for what you've done for me." Thor managed to say.
"Don't thank me, I only did it for Jane."
The men on the counter got distracted by someone behind them in a corner, who was having a coughing attack. "Are you alright?" Thor asked, looking concerned at the man, who looked like a local to him.
"I'm fine." The man croaked when he could talk again. "I just swallowed the wrong way."
Thor gave him an acknowledging nod and turned back to the scientist next to him.
Loki tried to get his breath under control again. He didn't want to get too much attention from his brother. Nevertheless, hearing her name coming out of Erik's mouth made him choke on his drink. What did he mean by he only did it for Jane?
"How do you know her?" Thor asked, when they had returned to their conversation.
"Jane's like a daughter to me. Her father and I taught at University together. He was a good man, but he never listened."
Thor nodded recognizing. "Neither did I. My father tried to teach me something, but I was just too stupid to see it."
Erik eyed him slowly, with a fierce look in his eyes. "I don't know if you're really delusional, and I really don't care. I just care about her. I've seen the way she looks at you."
A knife.
Maybe shattered glass.
It could be a grenade that had just exploded inside of his chest.
At all events, it hurt Loki immensely hearing that line. How was Jane looking at Thor? And why was Erik so concerned about him hurting her. Oh hell no. This could not be true. This had to be a nightmare.
"I swear to you I mean her no harm." He heard Thor say with a very sincere face. Oh, he liked her. He really did. This certainly was MORE than a nightmare, it was hell. His own cold and icy hell. Maybe he had died and he hadn't noticed. "WHISKEY PLEASE!" He yelled at the bartender signing at his empty glass.
"Good. In that case I'll buy you another round and you will leave town tonight." Erik said to the blond muscled man.
Thor nodded, yet slowly and undecided, but agreeing.
"Two boiler-makers!" Erik told the bartender, who had just returned from bringing a whiskey to the table behind them in the corner.
The bartender set down a couple of mugs and two shots of whiskey on the counter in the local pub. Thor watched the man pouring the shot into his mug with interest. So this was how the midgardians drink alcohol? Dr. Selvig downed his mug. The god of thunder grinned and followed the man's lead, making a disgusted and shocked face, when tasting the drink.
Loki couldn't hide a smirk. So he found out that alcohol definitely tastes different on this planet than on hours, he thought, knocking back his drink.
When seeing the two men having their own drinking contest, he joined them from afar. He had to drink away the pain, so he ordered even more than they did.
"You really think that Jane likes me?" Thor asked Erik, when he was already quite lit. "I thought she found me weird."
"She does, but I guess she likes weird guys." The human chuckled. "I have only seen her looking like this at a man once, but he-
"HEY I KNOW YOU!" Loki had enough of this conversation. He had to do something about it. His own brother not only stealing his crown, but also his girl. He couldn't bare it anymore.
Thor turned to him again, this time with a less concerned look. "I don't know you." He answered calmly.
"I've seen you with that hot girl." The Demigod saw the look on his brother's face. Thor didn't like where this was going. But Loki didn't care, he had to confront him now.
"I wouldn't mind her doing a little research on me." He laughed seeing the god of thunder's annoyed face.
"I have no quarrel with you. But she's a lady. You should be more respectful."
Of course the ever so gallant Thor. Oh, how he hated him right now. "And you should shut the hell up, princess." Loki replied.
Selvig looked at Thor, with a concerned frown, probably scared that he was going to lose it. But, to both the men's surprises, Thor remained unaffected by the seemingly Local's baiting.
"I will not fight him." He said to Erik.
"Then it'll be easy to kick your ass." Loki provoked him. Come on, what happened to his brother that he would not start a fight he clearly would win? The Demigod wanted to fight Thor badly, since he was furious. "Now come on! Where do you have those muscles for, Rapunsel?"
Selvig stood up from his seat and stepped between the two men. "Gentlemen, please. Let's keep our heads." Just then, Selvig head-butted the local, knocking him out. Thor looked at him impressed, while Selvig downing his drink, then hurling his glass aside, shattering it on the ground. "ANOTHER DRINK!" Erik shouted, laughing.
Thor chuckled and nodded. "Another drink."
The body of the local clashed on the floor, just outside the pub. "You'd better sober up!" The barkeeper told Loki, smashing the door in front of his face.
The demigod groaned and held his head. Well that went great, he thought rolling his eyes. He had not imagining the evening going like this. His head hurt, but that pain was nothing like the pain he felt, knowing that his Jane was in love with Thor, his brother, son of Odin and god of thunder.
Sleeping in the trailer wasn't as cozy as sleeping in her own bed, in her mom's house, but she had gotten used to it over the several nights here and in Jersey City back in the days. She had cuddled herself up in blankets, reading the children's book again. The last time she had read it was when John had let her stay on his ground in her trailer. This somehow felt like a déja-vu, sitting on the bed, in the SUV, with the book once more.
Knock knock knock. John? Last time it was him, who had knocked, while she was reading this book. No it couldn't be John. Of course not. Yet she stormed out of her bed, bolting to the door. When she opened it she found a grinning Thor standing there with Selvig slung over his shoulder. She didn't know if she should be happy or sad at that moment that it wasn't John, however she was glad Thor was fine. "Erik!" She yelled, when it dawned upon her that he was unconscious. "What happened, is he alright?"
"He's fine. Not injured at all." Thor walked up the stairs into the trailer, accidentally banging Erik's head against the doorway, making him wake up for a moment, groaning.
"I'm sorry my friend." Thor laughed.
"What happened?" Jane asked again.
"We drank, we fought, he made his ancestors proud." The tall blond man stated joyfully.
"Ah. Put him on the bed." The woman replied.
Thor moved through the small trailer with Selvig on his shoulder, crashing into stuff along the way, when he finally dumped the drunk man on the bed, who looked at him smiling. "I still don't believe you are the god of thunder." He laughed drunkenly, slapping Thor's face amicably. "But you ought to be." The god laughed and left Erik to his sleep.
The two still standing people walked back to the kitchen counter, where Thor looked around the trailer. "Are these your chambers?" He asked interested.
"Uh, it's more of a temporary living situation." She explained confused, noticing the junk lying around the big car. "Oh I'm sorry." She said self-consciously, starting to clean up the mess around her. "I don't usually have guests. Actually," she corrected herself by reminding herself how long it had been since John had visited her, "I never have guests." The smile the man in front of her made her knees weak. "I'm sorry." She stumbled. "C- can we go outside?"
"Yes, of course." Thor replied, still smiling.
The two of them had climbed on the roof of Smith Motors, where they made a fire and Jane wrapped herself in some blankets. The blond God looked around stunned by the view. "I like it here." He stated, more to himself.
"I come up here sometimes when I can't sleep. Or when I'm trying to reconcile particle data. Or when Darcy's driving me crazy." She looked up to the stars. I come up here a lot, now that think about it." She added laughing, turning her gaze in his direction. "I'm glad you're safe."
"You've been very kind. I've been far less grateful than you deserve." He smiled thankfully.
"Well I hit you with my car a couple times, so it kind of evens out." Both of them laughed at that comment and Jane got distracted by Thor's look at her. "Perhaps I can make it up." He said softly, while reaching inside his pocket and taking out her notebook.
"Oh my god!" Jane took the book out of his hands happily. "I can't believe it!"
"It is all I could get back. I'm sorry it is not as much as I had promised." He responded.
"No! This is great! This is... I don't have to start from scratch now!" Her eyes were sparkling, when she scrolled through the pages. "Thank you." She added sincerely. She found the page of the nine realms, she had drawn after John had told her his theory and her mood changed instantly.
"What's wrong?" Thor asked concerned.
"SHIELD." She answered quickly, not wanting to tell him the truth. "They tried to stop me before. They will not stop until I have nothing left and nobody will ever see my researches."
"No, Jane. Listen, you must not give up. You must finish what you started."
"Why?"
"Because you are right." He said determined. "Here look." He took the notebook out of her hand and opened her drawing of the nine realms. "Your ancestors called it magic. You call it science. I come from a place where they're one and the same thing." He started to draw lines between the planets.
Jane was overwhelmed by feelings. She had never thought that anyone but John would explain the world to her like that. She looked at him dreamily while he drew in her book. "What is that?" Jane asked confused, when seeing he had drawn some sort of tree.
"This is how my father explained it to me..." Thor started to explain, not stopping sketching lines in the book. "Your world is one of the Nine Realms of the Cosmos, linked to each other by the branches of Yggdrasil, the Worlds Tree."
Jane breathed in sharply. She knew this name. She had found it, when doing research on John's theory. This was no coincidence, she was sure of it.
"Now, you see it every day, without realizing. Images glimpsed through - what did you call it? ..." The god of thunder checked her notebook, "this Hooble Telescope."
"Hubble." Jane corrected him chuckling.
Thor nodded. "Hubble telescope." He couldn't hide a smile and the scientist had to laugh. "Tell me more." She whispered.
The strange man told her all he knew, mentioning the names of the Realms again, she had long forgotten. She sucked in every word and asked about everything she wanted to know more of. The first time she had heard of this Worlds Tree was such a lovely memory and she never wanted this night to end, since Thor made it possible for her to remember John, without the memories hurting her. He brought back her past and made the future more tolerable with every minute that passed.
A/n.: Poor Loki :-(
Yay! Another chapter finished! Hope you like it...