For a month sleep had been a thing to dread. A thing dark, deep, and drowning, and filled with memories better forgotten. Then for a day it became all encompassing. Blank. Empty. Nothing. Filled with a cold and a void that felt like losing one's grip on the edge of a cliff and then falling and falling and falling and then… and then he woke up. And Loki…

Now he floated. He knew he was asleep, and for the first time in a long time it felt soft. Deep. Restful. As though his body were finally healing. Finally at peace. He was warm, held and secure, and that was enough.

Just when he began to awake he wasn't sure, but his thoughts began to prick with life and he became aware of the soft mattress and the warm blanket and a pleasant numbness, and of a warmth and a weight and a scent that made him feel loved and safe. He turned his head into the softness of brown hair and breathed deeply, the scent filling his senses, and he sighed contentedly.

Her hand moved in sleep, small and gentle on his chest, her fingers curling and stretching.

Thor's eyes opened. He looked down upon the brown head that laid on his chest, the slender, strong arms wrapped protectively around him, holding him close. A face so intimately dear, so intricately known and entirely beautiful, relaxed in sleep. Except for the lines of worry in her skin, set deep between her brows and at the corners of her eyes.

For a moment Thor couldn't breathe, and a sharp ache took his heart.

"Jane?" He whispered.

She jumped, her head lifting sharply as her eyes opened, bleary and filled with sleep. "Thor?" She mumbled, and then her dark eyes cleared and she looked at him. Her expression immediately changed, dark fear chased out by brilliant relief. "Thor! You're awake! You're awake… You're…" She looked over him, her fingers touching him everywhere, almost frantically. Her voice was breathless and thick. "You're better… you're awake and you're better!"

Thor couldn't stop staring at her. She was here, solid, warm… alive. Her hands were on his cheeks and grabbing the collar of his shirt and she was only inches away, saying his name over and over again. Thor caught her face in his hands, the motion so sudden and his hold so tight that she started, and he pressed his forehead to hers, breathing in her scent and feeling her.

"Jane." He whispered. His hands were shaking. "Jane. Jane. Jane."

It filled him till he thought he would be overcome and burst with it… this glorious, overwhelming joy that sang through his veins and crowed in his heart and rose up and up till he was laughing with it, tears in his eyes.

Jane held him, her fingers tangled and tight in his hair. "Thor."

"You're alive." He breathed. He ran his fingers through her brown tresses, and kissed her lips, catching them again and again and again with his. "You're alive…" He kissed her nose, and her cheek, and her other cheek, and her mouth. Tenderly. Hungrily. Capturing and drinking her in as deeply as he could.

Finally he released her and laid his head back on the pillow, heady with lack of air and her.

Jane opened her eyes, glazed and sparkling, her mouth flushed and swollen. She smiled, and laughed, and then she gently— ever so gently— hit his shoulder. "Don't you ever scare me like that again." She snapped without heat.

"Scare you?" Thor huffed, stroking her cheek with his thumb. A wave of emotion almost overwhelmed him, and he closed his eyes tightly for a second, swallowing. "Jane. You died. You were gone." He pulled her close, wrapping his arms all around her and holding her tightly against him, her face pressed into his neck, and he buried his own face in her hair. He breathed; he would never, ever tire of this, of her in his arms and her scent.

For the longest moment they just stayed that way. Then Jane shifted. "I should tell the nurse you're awake." She murmured reluctantly.

Thor felt his arms grow rigid in response. He wasn't ready to let go; wasn't yet over the relief that she was here. Could she feel how hard his heart was beating? The faint tremble as he held her?

Jane slid her arms under his body, and held him. She held him for the longest of times, and then she kissed his shoulder, and his jaw, and his cheek, and his eye. "I'm sorry." She whispered, her voice thick and full. "Thor, I'm so, so sorry. I could hear you screaming as she pulled me away from you. I'm so sorry. But I'm here now." She looked down at him, holding his face between her hands, and her hair brushed against his cheeks. "I'm here." She promised. "We both are." She said, glancing down.

Thor followed her gaze, and he gently put his hands on her belly. Feeling the life within it. Thanking the Creator for this miracle.

"It was Loki," Jane continued. "He was there, and he sent us all back."

"I know." Thor looked up at her. "I don't know… I don't know how I'll ever repay him…" He pulled in a breath, and released it. "He once said I'll never be ready. He was right."

Jane pressed her lips together, her eyes filling. She didn't know what to do about this… there wasn't anything she could do. She couldn't live forever. She had only once expressed her frustration and helplessness about it. But now he could see the distress, heavy and turbulent, in her eyes.

Thor felt the cool skin of the apple against his side, under the blankets. He reached under, and his fingers closed over it. He felt the magic grow warm beneath his fingertips, and as he pulled it up the soft golden glow lit their faces.

Jane stared. "What…"

"Jane, do you know of Idunn's apples?"

Her eyes darted to his, large and dark and bright. Her lips parted. Then a slow smile, wide and knowing, spread on her face. "Really?"

Thor took in a breath to steady his suddenly quivering nerves. "Don't ask me how he did it." He said.

She gaped. "Loki?"

"I said I'll never be able to repay him." He licked his lips, staring into her lovely face, and he held the apple up. "To do with as you wish." He whispered.

He waited. He wouldn't beg her to eat it, though he knew his eyes were begging silently. He wouldn't try to force her, though he held the apple before her like a sacred offering. He held his tongue, but for one horrible, nightmarish moment he wondered just what he would do if she said no.

Then it was gone. Not just the moment, but the apple. Jane had plucked it from his hand, and without any preamble took a bite from it. She grinned, her eyes sparkling at him.

In a few minutes she finished the apple, and looked at the core.

"That was a good apple." She said, impressed. "I should save this… Can you imagine what we might find if we study it? We could find something that could slow down old age… we could find a cure for all sorts of diseases…" Then she looked at her other hand, and raised her eyebrows. "My fingers are tingling."

Thor laughed and reached up and caught her face, and pulled her down and kissed her. He was smiling ridiculously and probably looked a fool, but he didn't care.

Jane moved her lips against his, making him sigh, and then she pulled back and looked down at him. Her eyes were glowing and warm. A new flush was on her skin, a flush of new, amazing health. Of new life. "I love you."

Thor brushed a strand of loose brown hair from her face. "I love you, Jane." He whispered. "And I love you."

~TDW~

The air was bright and crisp and fresh. The rich green leaves quivered slightly in the breeze, their sound running up and down the orchard like nature's own wind chimes. Idunn paused in her work and straightened up, running the back of her hand across her forehead and blowing a strand of golden hair from her eyes. A mound of ripped and torn vines rose up behind her, a testament to what she'd walked in on that morning— the complete and total invasion of her orchard by curling, winding vines.

The last of the invasive vine rose up before her, curling around the trunk of the tree and sprouting glass green leaves and white and cream flowers, petals long and full and curving out and speckled with glittering gold.

Idunn put her hands on her waist and stared at it, and then shook her head, the corner of her mouth pulling to one side humorlessly. Still, her eyes shadowed with regret.

The flowers were very beautiful, after all. The most beautiful yet.

She turned to look around. A moment later she thought of the perfect vessel, and went to retrieve it. It was a wooden box, very wide and very deep, and she put it on her hand cart and then filled the box to the top with rich, dark earth.

She returned to the tree, pushing the cart before her and setting it close to the roots. With shovel in hand she cut into the earth, carefully and methodically, till she'd a good portion of it, and then she carefully lifted it… earth, roots, vine and all, and transferred it to the wooden box, planting it in the dark dirt with great care. Once its base was secured she slowly and attentively followed the vine up the tree and found its tip, and she unwound it from around the trunk and wound it again over her arm. She set the coil of vine on top of the dirt in the wooden box, and nodded in satisfaction. Somewhere she would get a tall trellis and set it within the box, to give the vine something to climb.

Grasping the handles of the cart she pushed it onward, through the gate and out of the orchard, into the small private garden just outside of her small, modest dwelling. She stopped at the end of the last row. Careful not to drop the box she removed it from the cart, and with tender attention she settled it next to another wooden box of equal size. Then she stepped back, and brushed the dirt from her hands, and looked around, admiring the many, many, many rows of wooden boxes, all full and flowing with invasive vines of every shape, size, and kind. The first few rows were quaint, though peculiar. Leaves meant to smell like blueberries were blue and sticky and smelled like nothing. Flowers meant to be golden like cheese smelled instead, like a great, aged wheel. But gradually they got better, more creative, more clever.

This last one was certainly a glory. The breeze blew across the white and golden blossoms, and the clear, pure sound of gently tinkling bells filled her ears, and the scent of sweet, spicy apples teased her nose. Her favorite scent.

Idunn smiled.

She returned to the orchard and to the tree with her cart, to retrieve her shovel and the enormous mountain of vines. Once again she pulled on her leather gloves. As she did so she cast a narrowed ochre eye up into the shadowed branches of the tree.

"Mischievous imp."

There was a chuckle, and the sound of a page turning. "You love me." Came the amused reply.

Idunn laughed, then shook her head and muttered to herself, going about transferring the great pile of vines to her cart.

On his relaxed perch in the branches, Loki turned another page in his book, and smiled.

The End.

I want to thank EVERYONE for reading, reviewing, alerting, and favoriting. I can't tell you how much your comments and messages have meant, and I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. It started out hard, and has ended like a breath of fresh air. For me at least.

So farewell for now, fellow fanfictians! I will see you when I see you.

God bless!

Mara-DragonMaster