Hey guys, back again with chapter 2. Haven't had much of a response so far, hoping this chapter will help pick things up a bit for ya. Big shout out to the people who followed/faved/reviewed:

CaptainShy
coeurdetenebre
Alex-Kurotani

You guys rock! Anyway, hope you enjoy and on with the story!

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Domestics

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Riley sat on her couch, laptop open in front of her, cigarette stuck firmly between her lips as she types up James' notes on the pre-construction stage of his interdimensional portal. She laughed softly, blowing a puff of smoke at the screen, as if it was to blame for the shock she'd received. It had only been a few hours since everything happened and she still wasn't calm. She wasn't shaking or hyperventilating anymore, but she could already feel the migraine building and knew that if she spared the recent events any thought, it would send her over the edge into hysteria again. So she'd decided to work, it always calmed her right down. It had been one of the first things she did when she had all but run into her apartment. The first thing she'd done is grabbed a beer from the fridge, downing the foamy contents in just under a minute. It had been enough to give her a head rush and bring her down and shake her from her shocked state. Then came food, a smoke and work.

"Great, just great. Of all the damn jobs, I had to get the one with an actual mad scientist. Why the hell is it always me? I mean, it's not enough that every boyfriend I've had has been some stereotypical ass hat, but now I have to deal with the Island of Dr. Jackass too?" She sighed, snuffing out the end of her cigarette, pulling a face as she tasted the remnants of burnt filter on her lips and rubbed absently at the small tattoo at her wrist. It was of a triquetra, a pentacle seated in the middle, done in colors of fall. It was the only tattoo she'd ever gotten and it meant the world to her. It was a reminder of her younger days, when she'd been "that girl" around campus. She laughed to think of it now, remembering how her closet was full of nothing but tank tops, billowy peasent skirts and gauzy shawls. She'd been the stereotypical hippie wiccan chick, the one that always had a cause she was fighting for, even if it was only for a week. She'd gotten the tattoo with her boyfriend at the time, a stoner of the highest caliber and a loser to boot. He'd left her shortly there after, claiming she didn't have the right "energy". That had been what snapped her out of it all, bringing her firmly back to earth and the realization that she answered to a much older religion.

Since then she'd passed through many circles, always getting tired of all the ceremony, the pomp and circumstance that seemingly came hand in hand with any organized religious group and had settled for her small altar in her living room and the occasional prayer session with the only other true pagan she'd met since moving away from home. Margaret, usually called Maggie or Mags by her friends and coven mates, was all that Riley had once dreamed of being. She was "world wise" and "cool" by conventional standards. They'd met at a bar across town, just a random act of kindness on Riley's part. She'd been walking to her car, carrying a half dead, completely drunk and newly ex-boyfriend at the time when she'd seen a woman drop a small satchel. She knew the type from her years of carrying one just like it and had called out to the woman. Margaret had been her friend ever since.

Just as she was sinking into the memory, a knock on her door brought her out of her reverie and grounded her once again in the maddening reality of her day. Riley sighed, lighting another cigarette and standing, bringing the ashtray with her. She may be a smoker, but she didn't want to ruin her carpet. She peeked through the lens in the door, groaning as she saw James' face, a bit of brunette hair and two broad chests standing behind him.

"Riley, open up, I know you're in there and I need help with these guys." James sounded almost panicked, maybe they'd threatened him.

"Hell no James, I did not sign up for this. I'm sorry man, but you have more than enough space at the lab." She started to move away from the door when it rattled in its' frame, the thump of one of the mens' fists ringing through her apartment.

"You will let us in mortal or I will tear this door from its hinges." Loki all but shouted through the door, hammering on it once again.

"Alright, alright alright, just lay off." She shouted, undoing the three locks and opening the door for them to come in. She growled softly as she saw the skuffing and denting in the wood, left from one of the gauntlets Loki wore. "You fucked up my door dude." She fixed him with an irritated stare, waiting for an apology, but none came. She just sighed and slammed the door, redoing the locks and taking her cigarette and ashtray back to her couch and resuming her work.

"Riley, please. I need a place to keep these guys. The portal keeps popping open and I can't work with them constantly trying to fight or blast something." He motioned to the two men.

"So you would rather they blast things and try to fight in my small apartment, that has neighbors, and a strict sound policy, and a landlord that lives two floors below me. Great, really feeling the love there James." She took a long drag off her cigarette and closed her eyes, willing them all to be gone when she opened them again. They weren't.

"Rye, come on, they are royalty, they will behave themselves." He tried to laugh, but came off sounding weak and unsure.

"If that's true then you wouldn't need to get rid of them anyway. And what about smarty pants over there. Is she staying too? Or are you taking the only sane member of the party with you. Also, not too sure about where you guys come from but you might wanna be getting her to a hospital soon." She pointed to where the woman was slowly slumping over a table, eyes closed, face ashen. Thor was next to her in an instant, holding her to him, as though that would help her.

"There is nothing your mortal healers can do for her. She has a great weapon within her veins that is burning her from the inside out." He sounded so heart broken that Riley actually began to feel sorry for him.

"There is only one place were she may be saved. We were on our way there when this oaf captured us." Loki stabbed a finger at James, as if it alone could end him.

"Whoa whoa whoa, I didn't capture anyone, at least, not on purpose. It was just an accident. I've explained this already but they just won't listen." He turned to Riley, his shaken nerves clear in his eyes. "Please Riley, I can't fix this with them in the lab." He came over and sat next to her, absent-mindedly waving the smoke out of his face.

"Alright, fine, they can stay here, but only so long as it takes to fix this. You hear me? The moment that machine is up again, they are gone." She tried to sound stern but couldn't bring herself to add to his mountain of stress. She'd never seen him this bad before. She set her cigarette down in the ashtray and put a hand around his shoulders, ignoring the disgusted exclamation from Loki. James laid his head on her shoulder, letting out a sigh, visibly calming for the positive attention and then sat up, drawing in a breath.

"I'll be as quick as I can, but I estimate it'll take about a week to fix." He had the door unlocked and was out it before Riley could respond, leaving her with two confused gods and one sick woman.

"Well that just great. Awesome." She stood, walking slowly to the door and slamming it with a ringing kind of finality.

It had been three days, just three days since James had dropped insanity at her door, and already she was ready for murder. Thor and Loki had not stopped bickering the entire time, it didn't matter when. They would argue about dinner, plans, how to enact those plans, what to do about Jane, what to do about their current predicament. They had even argued over who got the bed. Riley had put a stop to that one quickly enough, using a very heavy frying pan against Thor's head as an argument.

Jane, for her part, was quite agreeable, given the circumstances. She'd been nothing but understanding toward Riley and her habits, while the other two had done nothing but complain. Her smoking made Loki cough, though it really didn't, it smelled terrible. They didn't like her music. They didn't like when she would sit in the middle of the couch for a full day and work. They didn't like when she would watch TV. They didn't like what she cooked. She didn't cook enough of it. And that had all been in the first day. If it hadn't been for Jane playing mediator, one or both gods and Riley would already be dead.

The one thing that Loki seemed to actually enjoy about the place was her altar. It seemed to the only thing about her in general that he liked. He found it hilarious that his old Norse self was one of her patron gods and that there was a small idol shaped in his general likeness set off to one side of her bookshelf. Thor, for his part, seemed to try and keep his complaints to a minimum, only ever voicing concern over the things that, to him, really mattered. That seemed to consist almost solely of food stuffs, a place to lay his head, and the state of the woman he loved. All of these things were something that Riley could either fix, of lay at ease with the help of said woman.

She hadn't been doing so well, pale, weak and sickly, Thor feared she would die before the machine was repaired. But Riley knew a thing or two about redirecting energy and had been coaching Jane on doing the same. Riley had only ever used them as meditation exercises, but for Jane they seemed to actually be doing something. She would sit for hours sometimes, staring off into space on the corner of the couch, trying to direct the flow of the energy inside her away from her vital areas, trying to contain it in her limbs so it would do less damage. The results didn't really start to show until day three.

She woke up looking so much better. She seemed refreshed and happy, her skin was almost glowing with rejuvenated youth and her eyes had lost the feverish shine they'd had since they first met. She'd thanked Riley that morning before using her phone to call James, saying she was on her way down to the lab to help with the portal. She'd been dying to get a crack at it since she'd first learned about it, but today was the first day she was really feeling up to moving around. And that left Riley, stuck in a small apartment with two gods that couldn't stand each other and one that couldn't stand her. Today was going to be hard.

It had been four hours since Jane had left. Nothing had happened. It was a shock to Riley to be in a quiet space for the first time in three days. Thor sat in a corner, reading from an old Norse religious guide she'd bought on eBay and Loki was in the corner, studying her shrine for the millionth time. She plucked a cigarette from the box on the coffee table, sitting back into the plush cushion of the couch and lighting it, eyes fixed on the mischief god the entire time. Surely, if he was planning something, this would get a reaction. But it didn't. The smoke wafted toward the fan, pointed directly at the window which stayed cracked year round, and not a word was said. She didn't trust it.

"See something you like over there silver tongue?" She tried not to sound confrontational.

"Yes actually. These rune stones. Where did you get them?" He picked one up, missing her small wince. It had taken her a solid month to get those things used to her.

"My mom brought them back from a trip to Scotland. They were made in Norway. Why?" She leaned forward on the couch again, sure that this would spark his little plan.

"They are made of Asgardian stone. I know the kind. It comes from the mountain Odin's Palace is built on." He tossed the stone in the air, catching it and turning it over in his hand.

"Ok, and that's possible how exactly?" She raised an eyebrow, sure he was leading her on, trying to make a fool out of her for sport.

"The Convergence." Thor's voice broke softly into the conversation, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Ah, I see you've arrived at the same conclusion. It is the only explanation." Loki looked between his brother and Riley, a smug kind of smirk on his face. He knew she was the only one in the room who didn't understand what was going on.

"Okay, haha, stupid human doesn't understand. Wanna back track and let me in on the secret?" She fixed him with another glare, it seemed to be all she was doing recently.

"What my brother is referring to is a celestial event that happens once every five thousand years. It is called The Convergence. The nine realms,with Midgard at their center will align. It is the only explanation for our presence here." He explained as one would to a child, using a patronizing tone and lots of hand gestures, as if she would be completely lost without them.

"But that's in your univers. Our universe doesn't have nine realms. That stuff is all just fiction here." She pointed to the shelf behind Thor where two whole rows of comic books sat.

"Ah, but your friend created a tear in the fabric of both worlds. Just as we are now here, so too, are our realms, and our problems. Tell me, mortal, what do you know of the Dark Elves?" He grinned, watching the emotions play on her face.

James was scurrying around the lab, bolting from one place to another as various computer monitors and sensors started beeping all at once. This was the scene that Jane walked into, setting off yet another alarm, although this on was more mundane. James silenced the door alarm with the flick of a switch and a frustrated growl, barely noting Jane's presence until she appeared in his path.

"Oh, hello. Sorry, not quite fixed yet, having a bit of trouble with some other equipment at the moment." He tried to push past her but she stopped him with a hand.

"James, please, relax. I think I may know a little about what 's going on." She sat him down at the table, all but forcing tea down this throat to try and calm him and launched into her explanation.

"Wait, wait wait wait, you mean...I did this?" He deflated as he said it, sagging in his chair, his face falling in sadness until he looked more like a child than a man.

"You didn't do anything wrong. It was an accident. And the good news is we can fix it...maybe." She said the last bit under her breath. "All we have to do is wait the Convergence out and hope nothing comes through that we can't handle." She set her arm comfortingly on his, urging him to stand. The machines had not stopped beeping through the entire conversation, but what they hadn't noticed is that it had sped up, almost like a proximity warning. It wasn't until they neared the console itself that they began to realize something was going on.

Lights had appeared on several of the monitors, flashing an angry red and moving slowly toward a large blue dot at the center of the monitor. Jane looked to James, watching the color fading from his face.

"What is that? Please tell me that isn't what I think it is." She walked over to the monitor, focusing on the dots, watching as they all seemed to spawn from one central point, a larger dot that she hadn't noticed before.

"That is my satellite detection system. I designed it for NASA before they starting planning the Curiosity voyage. It detects celestial body movement in the immediate vicinity of Earth." He tapped a couple keys on the monitor and a picture too the place of the radar like screen. They were mostly black and what little could be made out was very grainy. "See, there's the moon over there, and that's the Hubble Telescope, various satellites and space junk and...huh." He tapped the screen, enlarging a certain spot that appeared to be empty space. He stared for a second, getting closer and closer to the screen until a bright red flash made him jump and back away. "What the hell is that?" He pointed to the now visible, very real space ship that was cruising at a steady clip toward them.

"But...that looks like Malekith's ship. I saw a bit of it when he attacked. But that isn't right. Something as big as his ship shouldn't have been able to fit through any of the tears we've seen. I mean, maybe one of the smaller ships but not something that big...unless." She looked up at James, her face taking on a look of pure fear. "Unless both worlds are starting to merge."

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Because we punched a hole in your universe, now anything can come through so long as it isn't too big? That seems like a dumb rule. I mean, a tear isn't the same as a carefully constructed hole, it leaves jagged edges. Wouldn't it get bigger? That's how it always happens in movies and stuff." She felt stupid just saying it, but it felt right.

"Something would have to push through the breach from either side to widen it and I don't think ther is anyone stupid enough to do that." Loki laughed softly, like the very idea was worthy of scorn.

"Why? I mean, a window is still a window right?" She had a feeling that she sounded desperate despite her attempt to remain calm.

"To widen the gap between our worlds would cause them to crash into one another. Have you ever seen two galaxies collide? It is destruction on so grand a scale that there is no word for it. It would end everything in both worlds. As such, no one would dare try." Loki spoke of it with a kind of reverence, like he had seen two galaxies collide and thought it beautiful.

"How do you two know so much about this stuff? I mean, I know Asgard is advanced and all that, but why would you need to know anything about astrophysics? Don't you have scientists that take care of that for you?" She looked between the brothers, amazed at how similar they seemed now that they were no longer in contention.

"A king must be well versed in all things, even those he will never use." Thor stated, looking at her as if it were common knowledge.

"As I recall, you used to sneer when Odin said those same words." Loki laughed, fixing his brother with a mischievous glance that brought a smile to the blonde man's face.

"And as I recall, you were always the one skipping out on long weapons training to go study with Mother." Both brothers seemed to deflate as this was said. Thor seemed full of a quiet kind of sadness, a grief that was deep, but pure. Loki was no so pure. He seemed to fill with a kind of angry sorrow that shook Riley to the core.

"Ok, so I'm guessing there is an issue with Mommy then?" She regretted it the moment it came out of her mouth.

"She is...no longer with us." Thor said, a tear sliding down his cheek as he stared into the carpet, like it would give him the comfort he sought. Loki remained silent, his eyes burning with a need for vengeance. Riley's phone chose that moment to ring, startling all three out of their own thoughts.

"Yello? Hey man, how's the...oh...yeah, okay...sure, I'll pull out the air mattress, bring the two from the lab. Yeah...yeah okay, later." She tapped the phone and then paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before winging the phone across the room where it struck a wall, denting the wall, and fell into a potted plant. Both brothers jumped, looking at her with a sudden caution, like they might have to restrain her any minute. Riley seemed ignorant of the change of mood in either man, standing, lighting a cigarette and moving into the kitchen, grabbing several bottles and putting them on the counter. All held a honey brown liquid, some a little darker, some a little lighter, the only real difference was on the details of the label. Some held the image of a pirate, leg up on a barrel, others were simple black affairs with lettering.

"Lady Riley, what is the matter?" Thor asked, setting her now cracked phone on the counter and eying the bottles with mild interest.

"My boss, genius that he is, has provided a big damn door for your world to fall through. Apparently some idiot alien ship pushed its way through the hole we made and is on its way to Earth. Which means not only are you guys here but now we're going to be dealing with a while ship full of what I'm assuming, cause it's been that kind of day, are very nasty alien types. My solution to this is get shit faced and ignore it until it goes away or I'm dead." She opened on of the pirate bottles and took a long pull from it.

"A ship? He said a ship came through?" Loki got very close to her, pinning her with an angry stare.

"Yes, a ship. A long, thin, black ship with red lights. Jane said it belongs to some guy called Maleky or something. I'm guessing that means something to you?" She returned his stare, refusing to be intimidated one more second.

"Malekith is the odious creature that killed our mother." Thor said, already by the door.

"So you two are just gonna wait for him to land somewhere and then kill him and everyone else in that ship? No help or anything?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Do not doubt our power mortal. Do not forget that, to your people, we are gods." Loki looked back at her, full of anger and a strange kind of excitement. He smiled, something she had yet to see him do, and followed his brother out the door.

"Good Luck!" She shouted after them, grabbing as many of the bottles as she could carry as well as another pack of cigarettes and plopped down on the couch, arranging everything within arm's reach to minimize her chances of injuring herself and proceeded to consume as much alcohol and nicotine as possible.

Well, there you have it, Chapter 2. Please R&R, let me know what you thought.