Chapter 4 – Waiting, waiting and more waiting

Darcy was thanked and sent home soon after her scene with Loki. Odin seemed pleased with her, promising to call within the week. Frigga bundled her coat and bag into her arms, giving Darcy a small squeeze.

"Well done dear, see you soon" Frigga winked and ushered her out pushing the door open.

Darcy had barely got out a thank you, good bye before she was faced with the solid white door.

"Right, okay?" Darcy shrugged on her coat, fluffed up her scarf and pulled down her beany hat. It was cold earlier but now it was freezing.

The uneventful drive home was at least warm, the old Volvo's heater working without the usual praying and thumping. The iPod shuffled tunes that she couldn't pay attention to, still reeling from the acting group, one member specifically.

"Oh crap Darcy, do you really want a part in this play?" muttering to herself, promising to text Jane at home. Hot chocolate, hot shower, warm pj's and snuggling into bed sounded perfect.

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Images of Loki and Thor spun through her dreams.

The blond almost naked, moving around her, trying to swirl her into a renaissance minuet dance. He was wearing gold lamé shorts and a deep red cape, wrestler-like, muscles rippling with his dance moves as he twirled her, bowing before moving onto dance with Sif dressed in red and gold.

Darcy looked down and found herself wearing an emerald green wide hipped gown, corseted tightly unashamedly showing off her assets. Gold ribbon work ran through the corset, both forearms adorned with white lace. Attempted to reach up to feel the heavy wig a slender hand pulled her back into the musical fray.

A green suede jacket covered Loki. Its musky scent filling her nostrils as he pulled her in close, pressing a chaste kiss against her temple. Soft black hair was tied back framing his pale features. Emerald eyes that had captivated her sparkled as he spun her into a quadrille. Unable to pull herself from his gaze she leaned towards him, shortening the distance between their bodies. His cool breath reached her cheek before she found herself spun towards another partner. Thor, unfortunately. His clammy grip was uncomfortable, she struggled to free herself. Pulling her in tighter he flashed her a wide grin before leaning in to kiss her.

Darcy's blue eyes were in shock as she watched him leaning in; captured in slow motion.

"Not Thor!" Darcy woke up sweating.

Checking the alarm clock she cursed Thor, Loki and the pre-dawn hour before turning her pillow over and snuggling down again.

"Loki this time, please"

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"So, I got your text Darce, didn't the audition go ok? Jane reached for the extra coffee Darcy held.

"It was different" Darcy surmised, taking off her coat. Warming her hands on the coffee cup as she avoided Jane's gaze. .

"Details please, all you given me so far was that there was a couple of hot guys, but that you weren't sure about the whole thing?

Jane perched against the lab table, body language making it clear that work wasn't to start until Darcy spilled.

"Umm, well, the Director and his wife were lovely. Their sons though were, err, different"

"Darcy! Different isn't cutting it. Dish…now!"

Resigned, Darcy sat on the stool opposite Jane, palming her coffee, working out the explanation.

"You'd like Thor…." Darcy went for distraction.

"Really, and why is that?"

"He's huge…." Darcy's eyebrow raised and smirked at Jane. Holding back a laugh Jane cleared her throat.

"I mean, his muscles are huge. He's really tall, long dirty blond hair, built like a Greek god and relatively charming, apart from the letching."

"Well he sounds just perfect Darcy, what could be wrong with that?" Jane sassed back to the intern.

They both burst out laughing together, spilling coffee over their fingers. Jane passed Darcy a tissue, taking one herself.

"So who else have we got?" Jane asked as she wiped her hands.

"Well, there's a few young lads and a tall stunner called Sif. I think she's crushing on Thor who's oblivious, can't see past his own ego. I didn't catch everyone's name to be honest"

"You said two hot guys, tell me about the other one." Jane leaned in, knowing that this was the juicy bit.

Darcy felt the blush rise up her jawline as flashes of her audition piece and last night's dream ran through her memory.

"Oh I see, this one you rather fancy then?"

"Maybe, shut up Jane, do you want me to go to work yet or not?"

"No, no, go on, tell me about this other guy. I know you are dying to!"

"Ok, umm, his name's Loki. He's taller than his big brother, skinnier too with shoulder length black hair. He has a lovely smile and green eyes you could get lost in."

"Sounds like you have already got lost in them Darce."

At that, Darcy blushed fiercely, flashing her friend a wide grin.

"Maybe" she giggled.

"So, when will you hear about getting a part?"

"Odin told me that I would hear this week, Frigga pretty much insinuated that I would get a part. I really hope I get one of the sisters."

What she really wanted though was to be cast as Luciana, with Loki playing Antipholus of Syracuse. She wanted his arms around her again, cheek to cheek, whispering into her ear.

"Let me know when you hear, now off to work minion. I have a bunch of notes that need compiling ready for the test run on Friday."

"Yes, Boss Lady" Darcy shook herself from her day dream. She like working for Jane. For a science freak, she had a dry sense of humour and could always see through Darcy's protective walls.

Looking over to the pile of papers by her desktop Darcy resolved to have a look on Facebook later, see how common the Odinson surname was. Maybe she could track down a certain tall, dark and handsome man.

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Three more days passed with no phone calls or texts from Odin. Friday was upon them and it was test day. The lab was a mass of implements, screwdrivers and recording equipment.

Jane had let her morning coffee go cold…again. Darcy considered blitzing it in the microwave, then standing over the manic scientist until she drank it. Maybe a camomile tea would be better?

Finally, Jane had her equipment set up and pulled Darcy over to the corner desk to go over some last minute notes.

"We ready yet boss?"

"Nearly there, I really hope something happens this time. The last two tests have been disappointing at best."

"Boring, more like."

Jane elbowed Darcy in the ribs, admonishing her for lack of faith. After waiting for a gazillion years Jane finally pushed a button on a small control pad, shutting out the lights and starting up the small circular machine. It whirred and knocked, gaining speed and momentum. The whirring noise increased exponentially, as did the clattering thumps at each orbit. Just as the machine appeared to glow, there was an enormous clang and the machine spluttered to a stop.

"Bugger!" Jane's excitement fell from her face as the machine ground down to a halt.

"Well at least it did something this time!"

"True, true. We have more data to analyse this time"

"Oh goodie…" Darcy skulked back over to her desk and checked her phone – again. Nothing. Again.

Darcy logged on to her Facebook page. Would it be too obsessive to see if she could find the guys?

Hell to it.

Typing in "Thor Odinson", not wanting to look up Loki first, she didn't want to seem too keen (to who?) she was surprised to find only one listed. Looking closely at the thumbnail profile picture she could tell it was the right Thor Odinson though. Hardly surprising it was a picture of him flexing his biceps, grinning like a madman. Darcy clicked the picture and was greeted by a restricted profile, not surprising in this day and age. However, the fool had left all his photo albums public. At least that meant she could trawl through them, hoping that a couple of family pics were hidden within the sheer volume of selfies apparent to her. Which reminded her, opening Thor's friends into a new tab she scrolled down looking for familiar names, hoping specifically for one.

She found Sif and Fandral, even Volstagg. No Hogun, maybe he was shy or just didn't buy into social media. No Frigga, which was a shame. Odin had a page but it was locked down, not even a request friend button. Finally she spotted her quarry, Loki's name. Silently praying that he wouldn't be as private as Odin, she clicked separating out Loki's profile on yet another tab. Unfortunately, it appeared that Loki was very much like his father and kept himself to himself. Few statuses were visible and only a limited amount of profile pics. None of them being of his face, just random pictures of ravens and cows?

Closing down Loki's and Odin's tabs she went back to reviewing Thor's photos. Skimming through as quickly as she could, she didn't notice Jane creep up and watch over her shoulder.

"Wow! He's gorgeous Darcy. Definitely seems to be a bit of a self-absorbed airhead though."

Darcy jumped at Jane's voice and proximity. Laughing softly she spoke "I thought that was your type Jane?"

Scowling Jane asked if she had found any of Loki yet. Darcy balked. Jane always knew what she was really doing.

"Nope just photo after photo of him and his friends. No family shots at all."

A ping in the background caught her attention and Darcy leapt up to grab her phone.

Swiping the unlock function away she reviewed her text messages. There was a new text to read! Excitement unfurled in her belly as she tried to compose herself.

"Calm down Darcy, it's probably nothing, just like all the other times you had an unread message." Darcy quietly whispered a prayer as she opened the text.

In the background, Darcy had left her Facebook profile open to check on her phone. Surreptitiously Jane sent a friend request to Thor hoping that he would accept. That way maybe Darcy could see Loki's profile better?

"Woohoo! It's from Odin."

Overhearing, Jane rushed over to her. "Well, come on then. What part did you get?" Jane's genuine excitement intensified her nerves.

"What if I didn't get one?" She clutched the phone to her chest hiding the screen from herself.

"Well I expect he would have phoned you if it was bad news, it would be mean to send that in a text, wouldn't you say?" Jane's concerned face mirrored Darcy's.

Darcy nodded and steeled herself to open the text.

"Hi Darcy, sorry it has taken all week to get back to you. I would like to offer you the part of Luciana. If you would prefer a smaller part though, then by all means please say. Once you confirm I will email you a rehearsal schedule. We usually do a full read through beforehand where you will receive your paper script."

Darcy squealed and threw her phone to Jane to read.

"That's excellent! Oh my god Darcy, well done. So are you going to confirm?"

"Yup, although I have reservations about the brothers. I think they are going to be a pain to be around"

"Don't you mean a pleasure…." Jane teased a laugh out of the intern as Darcy happily responded to Odin.

"Can't wait to find out what parts the others have" Darcy considered praying to any deity that Loki would get the right Antipholus part.

Ping! Odin's' reply came through almost instantly.

"Excellent, thank you Darcy. Looking forward to working with you. I know the boys are. I'll email over the schedule and a pdf of the script as soon as I can."

Darcy re-read Odin's texts over and over that afternoon, checking her email constantly. She was just going to have to wait…some more.