Finding Jane

Chapter 3

The next month found Jane deeply enjoying her moments of solitude between helping Darcy redecorate her first house (which she'd bought with Ian Complain, who was now officially her boyfriend and roommate) and meetings with Thor and their respective attorneys. She was quite proud that, after four weeks, she could run half the trail – a full mile and a half – before becoming winded. And although her scale claimed she hadn't actually lost any weight, she had noticed a difference in the way her clothing fit her. Jane had also noticed that since filing for divorce, she tended to feel more enjoyment with her life (outside meetings with Thor of course), though she still felt strange questioning what she wanted to do or eat and realizing her opinion was the only one there. No more settling because her spouse refused to compromise, no more forcing a smile through an event she couldn't care less about because it made someone else look good. The freedom of it all was a bit heady and over powering at first, but she adjusted well.

At the beginning of the fifth week after the Academic Ball, Jane began teaching her first classes, which so far consisted of two pre-course classes entitled "An Introduction to the Stars", two Astronomy I classes, and one Astronomy II class. The University Council had agreed only to her teaching for the first semester, though Jane found everything straight forward enough and honestly didn't foresee having the slightest bit of a problem. One colleague, Sigyn Laufeyson, happily chatted to Jane as she showed her around the science building and eventually led her to her room.

"Your office is through that door," she said, pointing towards the second door a crossed from the one they'd entered, located on the other end of the room. "You'll need to post your free hours on your syllabus so students will know how to reach you."

The strawberry blond had smiled gently at Jane's worried face. "Don't worry, a basic college outline for your syllabus is already on your office computer," she reassured. "You just need to put in your particulars and update any recent changes."

Jane had indeed sighed in relief upon hearing that, but still graciously declined Sigyn's offer to join her for lunch later. "There's so much to do here," she said with a weak smile. "Another time?"

"I'll hold you to it," was the woman's responds, her light blue eyes twinkling in such a way that worried Jane. It suggested, perhaps, some underline mischievousness to her supposed politeness, or maybe Jane's failure of a marriage had simply left her paranoid and jaded. She wasn't sure which, but hardly thought it matter. Not when the end result was the same. Jane was going to do her best to stay away from Sigyn Laufeyson.

Not that she had much time to contemplate the woman at any length. As it was, Jane had just barely finished preparing for her first classes when the students had begun filtering in. From her first introduction until her last class that day, Jane had loved every minute of her new job – no matter how temporary it was at the moment. By weeks' end, she could clearly point out which students were truly passionate from those that merely floated along. She tried to challenge her charges without over taxing them, something many of them liked about her. In fact, much to her chagrin, she'd noticed more than a few eyes gazing back at her during lectures with a lovelorn gleam.

Nearly a month into her teaching, Jane was mortified when Darcy had come to collect her for lunch and overheard a few males discussing – of all things! – the "fineness" of her derrière.

"I'd tap that," a dark male had said with a shrug as they'd walked by.

"Damn," his lighter counterpart had hissed out with a whistle as Jane and Darcy continued to walk by (albeit a little faster and with a redder face – at least in Jane's case), "I'd tap it and smack it!"

"Oh my God," Darcy giggled like a high schooler when they'd made it out of the building, "aren't you Miss Popular!"

"Shut up," Jane had hissed back, glancing around worriedly as they made their way to her car, finding no humor in the situation whatsoever. It had taken awhile, but Jane had eventually gotten Darcy to cease mentioning the event altogether to enjoy their lunch. Okay, so all she'd actually had to do was ask about color patterns for the living room (apparently Jane was painting this weekend – fun).

Two months into her semester, and Jane's attorney (as well as Thor's) had agreed their clients should meet before a judge to settle their divorce. Jane didn't know what Thor's problem was, as all she'd asked for was what she'd come into the marriage with, as well as anything currently in her name alone. She didn't ask for alimony, or to split their mutually acquired possessions, or anything else that would cause the process to be unnecessarily prolonged. 'Yet Thor still managed to do exactly that for three months now,' she thought bitterly.

"Goodness, Jane," a voice called from her classroom doorway, "what caused that look on your face?"

Sighing deeply, she turned away from the last few essays she was grading to look at quite possibly the most stubborn woman she'd ever met – outside of Darcy, and perhaps herself. It seemed no matter how hard she'd tried to avoid or outright ignore Sigyn Laufeyson, the woman grew that much more determined to be her friend, and a good one at that. "Nothing," she replied, but her voice sounded tired and stranded even to her own ears.

"I know college kids tend to be boneheads half the time, but surely the papers aren't that bad," the strawberry blond teased as she walked further into the room.

"What? Oh, no," Jane answered shaking the confusion from her mind as she rose from her seat and stretched quickly before hurriedly gathering her papers from the desk and packing them away in her briefcase. "Actually, I think I blanked out for a minute there."

"Life troubles?"

"That's putting it mildly," she quipped grimly as she moved to put her hip-length red leather jacket on. It was Jane's favorite (and Thor's least favorite) because it had been her mother's (because she didn't look "ladylike" while wearing it), and she greatly enjoyed wearing it again as often as she saw fit to. Grabbing her briefcase, she turned to see Sigyn looking her over thoughtfully.

"Why don't you like me," she asked after what had felt like a very long time to Jane. "I've tried to be friendly and helpful, went out of my way a few times even. It's like I'm running into a brick wall with you, Jane. Why?"

"It's not you," was her outward reply, while inside all she could think was 'fuck'. "I'm just going through some things right now. I…" She sighed wondering how she could spare the fairer girl's feelings without divulging too much information. "I have trust issues," is what she settled for, not prepared for Sigyn's "why?"

Jane froze for a moment, her life – her marriage to Thor – flashing through her mind. "I had lots of friends once," she whispered, "and now… Now I only trust Darcy with everything. I'm sorry, Sigyn, I'm sure you're a great friend but –"

"That's not good enough," she snapped, her fiery gold hair swaying as she turned away from Jane. "I want to know why, Jane. Tell me," she demanded.

"I…" she stuttered trying to think of some way out of this. "I'm getting divorced," Jane finally admitted, "and my future ex is making it as hard as possible to leave him."

"Ok," Sigyn nodded, taking that in. "So, why no new friends?"

"I haven't had anyone but Darcy since I left high school," she admitted. "I found out girls were only hanging around me to get to my then boyfriend –"

"And he actually slept with them," she asked in disgust.

Jane nodded. "When I found out he promised it'd never happen again and asked me to marry him."

"And did it happen again," the blond pressed.

Jane sneered and looked away. "Thor was never good at keeping promises."

"Fucker," Sigyn muttered, which actually caused Jane to smile. "Look, I don't want your husband, alright? I'm spoken for actually," she grinned, flashing Jane the simple engagement right that was on her left hand. "It's Friday night, why don't you text Darcy and see if she can join us at a club a few blocks from here? We could make it a real lady's night," she smiled with a mischievous gleam in her pale eyes. "And then if you still don't like me, I'll leave you alone. Deal?"

As much as Jane had tried not to like Sigyn, it wasn't long before she was not alone a tag along for her and Darcy's girl's nights, but also a regular part of Jane's everyday life. Within a month, it was as if she'd known Sigyn forever, and so Jane found it only natural that (given the fact she couldn't get a hold of Darcy) she tell the fiery blond when her divorce was officially finalized.

"Can you believe it," she gushed happily. "After four months of stalling, I'm officially a free woman!"

Sigyn had hugged her then, and Jane had felt so giddy and girly, it was almost ridiculous for a woman of her age. Then her friend had pulled back, an evil grin on her face, "does this mean we have a reason to celebrate on a school night?"

Jane had laughed at that and nodded emphatically. "Most definitely."

A/N: So recap, Jane has a new friend and is divorced now. Loki will make an appearance next chapter, and I'm playing with having a Loki POV chapter if I can working it in there.