(UPDATED A/N IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE)

A/N: First one-shot! yayy!

Setting: Takes place before Thor the movie begins...so Jane has not met Thor or anything has happened yet (but a Loki from Thor 2...you'll see...) And perhaps a shift in the plot that the molecular storm from the movie was monitored by Jane earlier (I don't know if that was in the film but I thought I would say it.)

Inspiration from this story sparked from the song, Running up the Hill...which has been made into excellent fan vids and sort of the "song" for Thor 2. I also love the idea of flowers in a story. They tell so much. I also jumped at the idea of a one-shot from an anon who reviewed in my other Lokane fic, Redemption, asking for a tragic story between Jane and Loki.

(I apologize for gramatical errors because although I do try my best with editing I am but a mere mortal).

Disclaimer: Marvel owns the world...not me.

And if I only could,

Make a deal with God,

And get him to swap our places,

Be running up that road,

Be running up that hill,

Be running up that building.

If I only could, oh...

The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together. -Saadi

Dark petals enfolding on a single green stem...

Placed ever so carefully on the wooden desk...

A single red rose.

An inscribed piece of parchment paper reading, "Jane Foster."

Every morning for the past twelve days, Jane had been receiving a single rose with a note inscribed to her every morning. At first, she thought it was a joke Darcy was making so she choose to ignore it. When she finally had enough of its mystery, Jane confronted Darcy, but her friend told her she had nothing to do with it. Jane then thought it was perhaps her ex Donald trying to toy with her, but it was impossible because he was out of the country. When Jane told Erik about it, he was nervous for her about the situation, thinking she had a stalker. He wanted to call the police, but Jane told him that she did not have the time or the patience to have cops running around her lab. Jane reassured him that she had an alarm system, which had not gone off once since the appearance of the roses had started. Darcy suggested on the eighth night that they should video monitor the lab. When they relayed the footage, nobody showed up. The rose appeared later that morning when Darcy turned off the video feed to get her camera to charge. So...Jane had begun to accept the mystery roses without much of a question. She even placed them in a vase, letting the older ones wilt along with the fresher roses.

Jane picked up this new rose and sighed. There was nothing new about this one. It was the same rich red color that held a full bloom of petals. Her name was written on the parchment in beautiful calligraphy that could put any writer in a jealous range with its penmanship. She felt curious as to why the author put such painstaking detail to each letter of her name.

"Another one?" Darcy asked, closing the door behind her. She placed a heavy box on the lab table. She picked up the newest rose. "That makes what...seven roses to this day?"

Jane sighed. "They just keep showing up!"

"Soon enough you'll have me gardening by the RV, won't you?" Darcy said, eyeing her friend.

Jane smiled. "Did you call the airport to make sure Erik's flight checks out?"

"Yep," Darcy said, taking out a piece of paper. "I wrote down the time and gate and when he'll be coming in."

Jane took the paper and folded in the back of her jean pocket. Tomorrow night would be a big night. It could be quite possibly the biggest break she would have in her career. Being an astrophysicist with zero support from virtually everybody in the scientific community was a hard life to live. Hell!...her assistant whom she hired for experiments and tasks was a political science major...not that Jane was complaining because Darcy was like a sister to her. It's just that Jane didn't know why people were not looking at the bigger picture of the universe. People assumed that life existed outside the solar system, but they weren't as drivenas she was to find that life. With the Einstein-Rosen bridge theory, things could change completely for Jane, and this upcoming molecular storm could start a new part of her life. It was so big that she even wanted Erik to be there to see it for himself. If her calculations were correct, this storm could be the beginning of a new era for Earth's connection to the outside universe.

Darcy picked the rose and eyed it carefully. "So are we going to have to get a dog or something to find this creeper out?"

Jane shook her head. "No...I've decided to put an end to it and just stay up tonight to catch this 'rose' person."

"Like hell you are!" Darcy exclaimed. "You don't know what could happen-"

Jane shrugged. "I have to. Erik is coming tomorrow, and I don't want him feeling nervous or have this going on while the storm is happening-"

"What if this person is dangerous?-"

"Then, I'll just have to use your taser," Jane said with a grin.

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Okay what if this guy is big-"

"I'll run."

"Has a knife?"

"I'll scream."

"A gun?"

"Call the police."

"Has a blunt, gardening weapon?"

Now it was Jane who rolled her eyes. "Okay who's being the paranoid one now?"

Darcy glared. "Fine...but you call me first if something happens and then the police."

"Why you first?" Jane asked.

Darcy smirked. "Because I'll be wanting my taser back."

Jane covered herself with a blanket before settling on the couch with her mug of coffee. Darcy left about an hour ago because she needed to have at least "ten hours of good sleep" if she was going to be up for the storm tomorrow night. Jane didn't argue with her because she wanted to confront this rose person herself, believing that the task had to be done alone or not at all. It didn't help that Jane forgot to turn the lights on when she entered the area or that it was virtually silent in the room. How many hours did I sleep last night? She wondered. Not enough, because her eyelids were drooping.

When she opened her eyes, it was clearly nighttime, and moonlight filled the room. She groaned, reaching for her the alarm clock on the table. 2:20 am. It had been nearly five hours since Darcy had left. Jane wondered if she used the decaf coffee instead of regular. She got up, stretched, and walked into the lab, wanting to brew another pot of coffee to hopefully keep her up.

Cutting the corner, she froze. A dark figure stood at her desk with its back to her. She reached for her pocket and cursed silent. The taser must have fallen out of her pocket while she was sleeping. Quiet as a church mouse, she took a step back towards the couch, wanting to get her phone to call the police.

"I am here not to harm you, Miss Foster."

She took a sharp inhale of breath, and her feet remained glued to their place on the floor. The low level lighting came on even though she had not flicked the switch.

Despite the new lighting, it still felt eerily dark in the room. She could now see the back of the figure much for clearly. It was clearly a man, given by the tone of his speech and stature. He was cladded in a dark, leather armor from neck to his feet. His raven black hair curled upward at the base of his neck. His shoulders had some type of pointed amour on it with gold embellishment. He turned around revealing his face to her.

She felt an unwanted blush creep upon her face because he was...in two words... sinfully handsome. He was nothing of a man Jane had ever seen or been involved with in the past, let alone her ex. His cheekbones were very protruding, giving him a dark, smoldering look. His high forehead and nose structure gave him a regal and noble charm. Even in the darkness, the green around his pupils pierced her eyes.

His gaze was consuming her. Unlike a normal situation where looking into somebody's eyes was not unsettling, his gaze swept all over Jane...wrapping up her senses entirely. She felt like a magnet being pulled towards him...wanting to be closer, yet wanting to run away at the same time.

Jane's blush deepened when she realized she was only wearing her flannel pajama pants and a small camisole.

Taking a deep breath, she scolded herself. You're acting like a schoolgirl. This man has been breaking into the lab each night. Who knows if he took something or what he wants.

Jane cleared her throat. "You have thirty seconds to explain yourself before I call the police," she glared.

She expected a look of fear or relief, but her merely gave a lop sided grin. His teeth dazzled in the dark as he took a step closer into the light...and closer to Jane. "Only thirty? That's hardly time to discuss anything."

She was taken aback by the playfulness in his voice and his accent. He clearly wasn't from Arizona let alone the country. "It's enough." Jane managed to say with a steady voice.

He walked over to the lab counter on which a vase of flowers stood. He stroked the petals of the oldest, wilting rose with such a gentle hand that it seemed he was barely touching it. She relaxed slightly, getting the feeling that he was not there to hurt her as she had assumed beforehand. "I see you have received my roses."

"So it's you," Jane said. "Why do you keep bringing them?"

He inhaled the scent of one of the roses. "Tokens of my affections," he said plainly but sincerely.

Affections? She let out a nervous laugh. "I don't even know you."

He returned his eyes back to her with a shadow cast over his expression. "Not yet."

Yet? She questioned. What kind of game is he playing? "W-what do you mean...'not yet'?"

He sighed, intertwining his fingers. "If I explain...which I cannot...there are consequences to be forfeited."

She backed up into the counter. All tracks of her mind were pointing to the same, ludicrous conclusion of where this man could only come from. "Y-you are from the future?"

It was his turn to hesitate in his speech. "Yes."

"...My future?" She asked but didn't know if she wanted to here the answer.

"Yes," he replied.

She swallowed hard. "B-but that's impossible...there is no possible way that could happen..."

"Only if you believe it to be impossible," he said softly.

Jane had never considered the possibility of time-travel before...but now it made seemed like a likely route if the Einstein-Rosen Theory was proved.

"If you are from my future..." she began to say with hesitance, "Why are you here? Why come to me when I don't know you?"

He looked through her paper work. It was calculations and graphs that she had been preparing for the following night. "A storm approaching?" He asked.

"Y-yes," she replied. "A molecular storm...I'm a scientist...but I take it you already knew that..."

He didn't reply, but just kept looking through the papers.

"You're avoiding my question," she stated with a cross of her arms. "Why here and now?"

He sighed and mumbled something along the nature of 'stubborn woman.' He cleared his throat. "It would be best to keep that information private."

Jane wasn't budging. "If you don't tell me, I'll be forced to call the cops."

He smirked. "Brute force means nothing to me. Do you think your law can catch someone who was not even detected by your own locks on this house?"

She glared at him. So he has been slipping through the alarms.

Looking up from her work, he smiled at her frazzled expression. "You're going to have to bargain better than that."

"Fine," she challenged, hoping to wipe the smile clean off of his face, "but you'll be talking to the wall for the rest of the night if you don't answer my questions."

His smile stayed. "Now there is a proper use of leverage."

"Why are you here and why now?" She repeated the question.

His smiled slowly dropped. "It was the only time frame my energy would allow me to visit...to say my farewell to you." His expression became unreadable.

Jane cocked her head to the side. "Farewell? Where are you going?"

He stepped away from the lab table and made his way closer to the sliding glass doors. She was now looking at his back. When he didn't reply to her, she comprehended what he really meant by 'his farewell.'

"You're dying," she realized aloud. The rational side of her brain went into its mode. "There's a hospital about five minutes away. I can drive-"

"No."

She kept talking. "If you are hurt then we can get help-"

"An ailment like mine...cannot be altered by mundane tools or medicine," he said. "The only reason I am standing here right now is because I am on borrowed time...which is running out quickly."

She was now standing an arm's length away from his back. "How did it happen?"

He stood silent again.

A spark of anger flared in her. "Don't get quiet on me again...I have a right to know...to hell with the consequences."

She could tell he was smiling even though his back was to her. "You never change, no matter the time or place, do you?"

Jane took the opportunity to be silent now. Even though she wanted to press on what exactly was her relationship with this man in the future, she refused to let him change the subject.

His back straightened. "There is a battle that takes place in the future...somewhere very far away...in short, the enemy held a captive...my brother could not make a decision...so I made it for him... my life for hers...and she would walk away if my life was given."

A battle? Jane questioned. She wondered if Earth was going to be at war...but something in his words said that the battle would not take place necessarily on the planet. Jane felt at lost on how this man could do such a heroic act only to be rewarded in his death. She shook her head. "Who could be worthy of that?"

He turned around so that the moonlight illuminated from his back, causing his face to go into shadow. "You are worthy, Jane."

Her breath caught. It was the first time he had spoken her name aloud. She couldn't help but shiver at the way his voice wrapped around the syllable of her name... like it was something he'd spoken before. He didn't hesitate, and somehow, she knew he was not lying in his words. Before, Jane had been baffled by the most daunting mathematical equations and scientific theories, but she had never felt more confused in all her life by his words. "W-what-"

He hushed her by putting his hands on her shoulder. She stilled. His long hands encompassed almost all of her shoulders. "I know you are confused. I know you are scared because you don't know who I am or what is going on."

He paused, trying to find the words. "But I know you. I know you, Jane Foster. I know that you have loved the stars ever since you were a little girl. I know you hate violence and seek understanding before a fight..." He chuckled, as if recalling a memory, "...even though I know you let your temper get the best of you when it is for the right reasons. I know you love to read books while under the moon. I know of the dimple on your face that appears when you are in deep thought."

She blushed, not knowing what to say. He lifted her chin back up, making her look into his eyes. "I know you miss your parents. You miss your mother's voice and your father's encouragement. You love your friends and would do anything for them. I know you despise being taken advantage of those who think they know better than you do. I know you try your best to see the wellness in people who don't deserve your sympathy."

His voice lowered. "I you care for my brother deeply...I know you did not love him in the way you thought you did...I know you will hate me when we first meet...but I was cruel for toying your emotions...and I'm so sorry...I know I was a coward for not telling you sooner of my feelings...and I know that I did not expect to fall in love with you when I wanted to hate you...but I could not..." He rested his hand to her cheek. "And I would rather be damned to an eternal life in the abyss than to not have my last moment of my life shared with you...even if you don't know me as I know you."

She didn't know what to say. Jane was so confused and lost in the moment of it all. He spoke of things to come, and she wanted to tell him things would be different...that he would live...and that she and him could talk about this more... but Jane did not know what to say and felt any words of comfort would only hurt him more.

"I-I," she spoke, her voice catching, "I don't even know your name."

He looked at his hand as it caressed her skin. "Loki," he whispered.

"Loki," she repeated finding the name smoothly rolling off her tongue. He sighed at her voice and let all tension drop from his face. With all that he spoke, Jane refused to let this man just give up on his life, especially if all he said was true and she meant that much to him. "We can find a way to save you. Maybe we can-"

He silenced her by bringing his mouth on hers. Despite the pressure, his lips felt soft and cool as he kissed her. He brought both of his hands to capture both of her cheeks. He kissed each lip gently and torturously, and she felt her stomach do somersaults with each caress of his lips. But just as soon as he started, he stopped and looked at her...searching for her reaction. Jane felt all of her rational thoughts leave her as she brought her hands up to his chest, clutching unto the lapels of his leather armor, and bringing her mouth back to his. He groaned, pulling her in closer and spinning them around so that her back was on the glass.

She felt him everywhere at once. His smell was intoxicating as she inhaled, like the smell of wintertime with all its harshness and beauty. His hands were spread around her hips, applying light pressure as he drank her in. She intertwined her hands into his hair, wanting to feel its touch herself and bring him closer. He gently opened her mouth, moving his tongue with hers, causing shivers to race up her spine. Locking one hand on her lower back and the other towards the top of her neck, his kisses back more passionate and desperate...like he couldn't breath unless his lips were on Jane. His mouth moved to her jaw and he rasped words that were foreign to her ears as he moved his mouth down her neck. She groaned again, arching her back and clutching unto his head for fear of her knees buckling.

He brought his mouth back to her face, savoring each every area of it before bringing his lips back to hers. This time, his kiss became slower...but still fired with an unending passion. Unexpected to Jane, his tears began to mix in with their kisses, dropping on her face and leaving the taste in her mouth. Jane became frantic, remembering his words of goodbye to her not only moments ago. She locked her hands around his neck and kissed him with equal passion, not wanting to let go or let the moment end.

Loki gently brought his hands around her, breaking her lock around his neck, and bringing them folded in his arms. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers with his eyes close. They both breathed heavily.

"You don't know...how long I've wanted to do that..." he rasped.

She opened her eyes to see him looking at her. She felt her own tears start to form. "You are not dying," she said in a commanding expression.

Jane didn't realize she was crying until he brought a hand up to her cheek and wipe away the tear. He let his hand rest there. "For this moment with you right now, I would have wished for death sooner."

She began to tremble. "But I don't...I don't know you...not yet...y-you can't leave...there is so much you're not telling me...so much I want to know about us...I'll have to meet you again later in my life...only to know you'll be gone... I'll...I'll stop this...you don't have to die, I'll warn you about it-"

"Hush, love," he said bring her head into his chest. He rested his mouth on her hair and inhaled. "You never will."

Loki whispered words of an alien tongue and after he was done, Jane felt her conscious slipping.

"I...I feel...I feel dizzy," she mumbled. Her body became limp and Loki caught her with ease. "Y-you...you're doing this...

He smiled sadly, breaking her emotions. "It's for the best."

His image began to shift. "You...you're going t-to...make me...forget...forget this night..." She wanted to scream and keep his image in her vision, but whatever he did to her was too strong for her to handle. "...you...bastard."

He smiled again and scooped her up in his arms with ease. Jane clutched unto him, not wanting to let go. "N-no...don't go..."

"I never will," he whispered, bringing her face up to his.

He brought his mouth back to hers, and kissed her softly. When his lips left hers, she felt a chill sweep across her face. "Sleep now, my Jane...and dream of me."

Jane felt her mind slip into a blissful sleep in the arms of a man who held her dearly. He laid her down gently on the couch. Loki conjured his final rose and placed it on the table in front of her. With one last look at her sleeping form, he dissipated from her presence, going to meet his fate.

A/N:...and there you have it. *sigh* I just love them so much.

UPDATED A/N: potential sequel? I've been getting a lot of requests...I'd like to see Thor 2 before I publish anything but stay tuned and if I do I'll anything add on an author's note in this story before publishing something (no promises but yes I am brain storming :) ) and this story can still stand alone if you don't want to read further if I publish more chapters or something...so don't worry...you can still read this chapter as a one shot and not obligated to read more If I publish.

Please review! I'd love to hear opinions...especially since this is my first Lokane one-shot :)