I am really sorry.

Send Me

Jane Foster stood in silence with Thor, heir to the Odinson Corporation, while he greeted potential business partners. She looked around the room at all of the people who obviously knew each other in once shape or form, all talking and gossiping about wayward companies. Every so often she would see a group look in her general direction, there would be a pause while someone, usually a female, would lead the conversation, and then they would laugh together as a cluster. Simply put, she felt out of place.

"—and it is so nice to see that you are dating again."

Jane's eyes snapped to the wife of the CEO of Jotunheim Industries as she continued talking, "I'm so sorry for the loss of your fiancé Sif. She was such a bright beautiful woman."

The woman held herself with such arrogance and Jane could feel the aristocratic snobbishness radiate off of the woman. When she started to date Thor she didn't realize how difficult it would be to adjust to this new kind of life.

Jane hated to say this but things were much simpler when she and Thor attended college together, he in the business and management branch of the school and she in the astrophysics branch. Literally they ran into each other while they were going to class, it was an awkward moment for her because the impact caused her research papers fly across the college's lawn. At first he was going to leave her to pick up the pieces of her own research paper, but when she demanded that he help her he was obviously taken back that this woman didn't know not to talk to him like a commoner.

Needless to say he liked that she had fire and guts to talk to him like that, he helped her pick up her papers and asked if she wanted to get coffee sometime, on him of course. She said yes. He told her about his family and the company he had to run in the next few years when his father retired, and she told him about her father who taught at another university and her mother who sang at jazz clubs for fun.

They saw each other for two years and they broke it off after Thor finished his classes, their last date together was more of a goodbye. They had coffee at the shop after Thor helped her pick up her research paper and they finished with a long walk around campus. It was a bittersweet but mutual end to the relationship. He had to get ready to run his father's company and she had to transfer to New Mexico to further her research by studying the stars in the open skies of America's great desert.

Jane watched Thor through business reports and gossip magazines, she read about the heir of Odinson Corporation dating Sif, the top fashion designer in the world and owner of Vanir Magazine. She did feel a pang of jealousy for the woman, and Jane was slightly bitter, but she moved on with her work.

Little did she know that Thor also kept track of her, he read whatever article she published in science journals barely understanding what she wrote. He also urged a college to fund her work using his own money, the college tried to talk him out of funding her because her theories were, "too hair brained to yield actual results" Jane never found out about that detail.

It was a year ago when Jane was in the supermarket that she saw the front page of Ratatosk Daily that Fashion Queen Sif had died horribly in a car wreck, Thor was driving, and they didn't see the eighteen wheeler coming. Later investigators found that the traffic lights had malfunctioned and that Thor was lucky to have survived.

Jane immediately wrote a letter to Thor and sent it through the post, she never received a response. A week after the wreck she found that the Odinson Corporation sued the Public Transportation Agency for the faulty traffic lights, the case was over within two weeks with the Odinson Corporation winning compensation money to pay for Sif's funeral and other expenses. That same week Vanir Magazine published an issue all about the Great Fashionista Sif featuring all of her lines and her greatest contributions to the fashion industry. Many celebrities in the fashion industry and outside the fashion industry mourned for such a terrible loss.

Two months after the accident Jane still worried about Thor, she knew that somehow the couple where really close in some way or form. If they were as close as she and Thor were she knew he was taking it very severely. He probably blamed himself for the accident. She didn't know that Thor would show up at her front door in New Mexico.

He looked so sad and broken, he said that all he needed was someone to talk to, to be with, and he still hurt. The two of them would stay up to all hours of the night talking, sometimes about Sif, other times about Jane's research. During one of those conversations Jane went to her desk and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Thor. He read it and started to cry.

"You did this for her?"

Jane only nodded; she said that he could keep the paper. She had found a new main sequence star in the sky and named it after Thor's deceased fiancé. Thor could not thank her enough for honouring Sif in this way, he said that he was touched and she would be too.

Thor stayed with her for three days, and then left for New York for a meeting with the CEO of Stark Industries with his father.

A few days later she and Thor talked more, he would call her when he wasn't busy and she would email him while watching the night sky. He told her everything that Odinson Corporation was planning and asked her opinion on a few subjects he was weak in and she told him everything she was discovering about the stars and her theories. During one of their correspondences Thor told her how he was able to wow a crowd of people with the knowledge she taught him, especially the astrological mythology she told. She often laughed when he over exaggerated.

And suddenly Thor invited her to New York for a business party that his father was throwing for the CEO's and other high officials in the business world. He told her that he would love for her to come and be with him while he made connections with the head of staff of other companies.

And now she was here listening to gossip and feeling wandering eyes on her back as she stood next to her good friend.

"Oh no, Jane and I are not dating, she is a good friend of mine from college." He smiled at her and she smiled back, "She's an astrophysicist and I have always thought that science is important."

The woman's eyes widened and she laughed "A good friend? My, well now a days, a good friend is seen as a potential romantic interest."

Jane had to bite the inside of her cheek to remind herself that if she were to speak out it would embarrass her and Thor. That would not be good

Her husband intervened, "Now dear, I think it would be best to leave the two of them alone."

"I'm just saying that it is far too soon for him to even bring a woman to a party with him, just think of what poor Sif would think to see her fiancé already with another woman. Poor soul."

Jane looked intervened as she turned to Thor, "I don't feel well. I'm going to the restroom."

And before Thor could even say a word Jane swiftly walked away from the couple and past other social groups. She could still feel the stares of the entire room on her. She turned into the hall and kept walking until she found the restroom she saw earlier that evening. Entering she threw her hands on the counter and stared down at the sink taking deep breaths.

She wasn't expecting this, this persecution, those eyes that accused her of a crime she did not commit. She wasn't the one who drove the eighteen wheeler into the car, why did these people keep treating her like she was the one who killed Sif, a woman she never even met!

Jane looked up at her reflection, right now she should be in New Mexico staring at the stars, figuring out calculations, and opening the door to other places in the universe, not at this pompous aristocratic party. Jane turned on the water and pumped soap into her hand and scrubbed them roughly, when she finished she looked for towels there were none.

Getting even more annoyed she wiped her hands on the party dress that Thor bought for her, it was a pity that she was doing it to the thing but at the moment she was too angry to care. Now that she was calm she readied herself to return to the hell that was this party.

She briskly opened the door and promptly ran into someone, and that someone knocked her to the ground, "Hey watch where you're—" Jane looked up to find a man staring down at her with slightly peeved green eyes.

"You should be the one to take care of looking at where you're going." The man brushed off his suit as if she ruined it. "I take it you're Thor's new girlfriend?"

"We are not dating," she huffed, "we're just friends." Jane lifted herself off of the floor and also brushed off her dress. Why the hell does this guy and these people to jump to conclusions about Thor and her?

"Oh? I don't recall ever meeting you. Usually Thor is very good at introducing his friends to me." The man leaned on the wall across from her and crossed his arms looking her up and down. Yes, he had never met this person before and he is still trying to process whether or not it would be beneficial to get to know her or not and if she would have any use to him. "How do you know my dear brother?"

"Brother?" Jane looked down as realization struck and she looked up, "You're Loki."

"So he's told you about me? How cute." Loki smiled, "Since you are reluctant to tell me how you know Thor that only leaves me to guess where you know him. Now you couldn't have known him during high school or any previous levels of schooling, our father sent us to the best boarding schools in the country and I doubt your family would be able to afford that. You may wear that dress elegantly, but your nails give you away, they are unkempt and no woman of money would let her nails get that out of hand."

He continued.

"There is a slight possibility that it might be a college, assuming that you are gifted in a specific field and had an ample amount of scholarships to aid you in funding your way into an Ivy League. Your hands give away that you work a lot with paper and other materials, especially that electric burn on your left hand. You're right handed. You don't work in any of our office buildings because I make it a point to know every person who works for me and my brother."

"And you are by no means in any important industry that is connected to the business field, god forbid, the fashion industry and you know the reasons why. So we come to the conclusion that you knew my dear brother while he attended business school. Now the question is: What makes you so special?"

Jane crossed her arms and matched Loki's posture leaning against the wall with an eye brow raised, "Well maybe I am not a prick like you are. You want to analyse my life while you know nothing about me or my family. You hit a few things on the nose, but with some things you are far off target. Yes I didn't go to one of the top boarding schools in the nation, but I attended a pretty good public school and I am fortunate that I have a father who was able to teach me more than the average teacher could."

She continued calmly, staring into Loki's eyes coolly, "You're right I am right handed and I don't take care of my nails because I see no reason to. Yes, I do work with paper and "other materials" like heavy aluminium, electrical wiring, and computer programing. As a matter of fact I did burn my hand while building a device of my own invention to help me in my line of work."

She now stood with much pride and took a step toward Loki and uncrossed her arms, "I take pride in the "industry" I'm in, if it weren't for the people in my "industry" then people would still think the earth was flat and the sun revolved around the earth. I'm an astrophysicist, if you don't think that industry is important, I will have to slap you."

Loki still held his position on his wall, he could see know why his brother was so enthralled with the woman. She had moxie. She did not take his verbal beating silently and accepted it as anyone would from the middle class. She's a tough woman, she must be. There are few female astrophysicists in that male dominated sector of science, she had to fight and prove that she was worthy of being an astrophysicist throughout college.

Loki pushed himself off the wall and held out his hand, "It is very nice to meet a woman of science, I am Loki, and I am the one who truly runs Odinson Corporation. Pleased to make your acquaintance Miss…"

Jane brought her hand to his and he grasped it firmly, "Foster, Jane Foster."

"It's a pleasure Miss. Foster. Now don't you have a friend to get back to?" Loki gestured to the party down the hall. Jane nodded and started to walk away from him only to have her wrist grabbed. She turned her head and met Loki's eyes, "Those vipers will have their fangs torn out by the end of the night, especially those from Jotunheim Industries."

He released her from his grip and walked into the men's restroom leaving Jane to wonder what he his agenda was, little did she know that Loki did not do favours out of kindness, he would require payment later. It was true that he runs Odinson Corporation, he knows more about the inner workings than his own father, and Jotunheim Industries was a threat to the Odinson Corporation. He will use his brother to destroy their business competitor, his brother would be ruined with the scandal and Loki would be there to pick up the pieces and lead the company into new prospects of prosperity. It is a pity that the Miss. Jane Foster has caught his eye, and it seems that he will make her his most versatile piece on the chessboard.

Jane Foster returned to the party with a little more confidence, it felt good to have some of her anger released, even if it didn't pertain to the attitudes of the people around her. She would have to thank Loki later for giving her that kind of release, but maybe something like that would best be kept to herself. She was thankful that she ran into Loki instead of one of the party goers. Last thing she needed to do was to fly off the handle.

Jane looked around the room and found Thor talking with a group of men, she smiled maybe they might be a little bit easier to handle instead of the owners of Jotunheim Industries. Jane walked through the groups of people and soon came beside Thor.

"Jane, it is so good to have you back! Meet a few friends of mine. This is Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun. Volstagg has an entire cooking line and a show all about the fine foods around the globe."

Jane eyed the large man in front of her he had a large beard and long hair, she couldn't believe that he was in the culinary industry, but then again if you had the funding you can do anything.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Volstagg." She held out her hand and Volstagg's immense hands overtook hers. Wow he had a strong grip.

"Pleasure is all mine!" he released his grip and Jane let out a silent sigh of relief. It wasn't every day that you shake hands with a very large man, but when you do their hands are huge! At least he had a better attitude than the other people she met.

"Now Fandral is another story, he is from France and is in the fashion industry. He actually introduced Sif to me."

Jane smiled and took Fandral's hand, "It is a pleasure to meet a friend of Sif. I have heard much about her from Thor."

After finishing her sentence Fandral brought Jane's hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles, "I hope they were only praises and nothing more."

"Only the greatest praises and most painful memories my dear friend." Thor said sadly. He held his hands together and he was slightly a little withdrawn now. Jane watched him pained, this was the last thing she wanted Thor to go through right now, but he has the right to mourn.

Fandral looked up at Jane looking for something that would validate Thor's words. She nodded empathetically with her eyes lowered. Fandral released her hand and he too looked down, he and Sif were close he was the first one to hear about the engagement from Sif, she often featured him and his lines in her Magazine. When she visited France the two of them would go out to dinner and talk about the coming year's colours and cuts. He missed that he would not be able to do that again.

After a brief silence between the group Thor lightened up again and introduced his final friend to Jane, "And this is—"

Jane interrupted Thor, "Hogun, you're the professional athlete that has not only been to the Olympics for wrestling and archery for four Olympic Games, but you invented the Ass-gard work out. A friend of mine is a big fan. She says her butt has never looked better."

"Please give her my thanks for supporting my programme and buying my CDs." The man bowed his head slightly and slightly smiled. He showed little emotion on the outside, but truly he is elated when he hears that there is another success story for his programme.

The elegant music in the room soon came to an end while Odin Borson took a microphone, "Good evening my friends, I feel so honoured to be among some of the greatest people in the world. As many of you know this will most likely be my last year managing Odinson Corporation. I am looking forward to my retirement and sleeping on the beautiful beaches of southern Florida, and my dear wife is looking forward to spending more time with me."

Odin's gaze filled the entire room, and he held every person's attention like magic, "It pleases me to announce that my son Thor, after many years of preparation and working within the company, will take my place as CEO." He made eye contact with his son, "I have the highest regard for him and trust him with all of my being to make the right choices for the company and his own private life."

"And without further ado, I invite my second son Loki to share a few words."

Loki, who suddenly appeared toward the end of his father's speech, gave a small smile as he took the microphone from his father.

"I have been working as the Chief Financial Officer for five years now, and it has always been a pleasure to see my dear brother learning the loops after graduating business school. I am thrilled to see him rise to the position of Chief Executive Officer after three short years of managing other departments within our company. As you all have seen my dear brother has brought an honorary guest with him tonight, Osinson Corporation has always been a supporter of the sciences and the discoveries that can benefit mankind. All for tax deductions and good publicity of course," Everyone in the room laughed.

"But our guest has been a dear friend of ours outside the company, and I do apologize to you and to her for not introducing her sooner. So not to take up any more time, standing next to our future CEO, I would like to introduce Odinson Corporation's astrophysicist Jane Foster."

And with that the entirety of the room clapped their hands all of them turning toward her all of them offering smiles. Some low mutters also filled the room. Jane looked around at the people then back to Loki who stood staring at her with a smirk and his eyes spoke just as smoothly as his small speech saying, "You're welcome."

She was amazed that he could turn an entire crowd from dirty looks to looks of appreciation and praise. Inwardly she thanked Loki, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't do it for her out of the kindness of his heart. The only question that ran through her head was, who are you?

She turned to Thor about to speak but found that he left her while walking to his brother, Loki offered Thor the microphone and he took it and then gave his brother a hug. The room turned quiet as Thor faced them a large smile on his face. "It is so nice to be welcomed with open arms, and thank you Loki for finally introducing Jane, now I don't need to do so. In the coming business year I am looking forward to making this company as prosperous as it can be with the best efficacy my co-workers and I can muster. I don't really know how to say how privileged I am to have business partners and friends all looking for the best interest of the company my father build with his father. I can only hope that I will make my ancestors proud."

"This coming year will be tough with the fluctuating economy, but as always we will endure and pull through. Now I believe it is time for us to return to our festivities!"

And with that Thor replaced the microphone as met other people who he had to talk to. Jane took that time to wander to the other side of the room and actually sit; her feet had been bothering her. As soon as she sat down a drink was offered to her by the man who cut the fangs off of the vipers. Not wanting to be rude she took the glass and placed it on the table in front of her, "Thank you."

"For the drink or the speech?"

"Both."

Loki sat across from her and he too placed his drink on the table, he noticed with great relish the way her eyes held his own. This was going to be interesting. It hadn't been a long time since he had drinks with a woman, but this is the first time that a woman didn't shrink away from him. This one was going to be a challenge he wouldn't turn down by any means, even if she took a little work. He knew that she wasn't staring at him out of interest when he finished the speech. She observed him in the way that he observed people. He smirked.

Jane brought her drink to her lips and took a sip, but Loki could only think about how this woman seeped into his mind, he was not pleased. He was supposed to be planning the fall of Jotunheim Industries!

"You look nothing like your brother…there is no physical resemblance."

Loki looked at his nails, his thumbnail digging under the nail of his middle finger, then up at Jane, "You are correct in your observations."

"So what's the back story?"

"Nothing I would like to share Miss. Foster."

The two of them then sat in silence while the party continued and both of them eyed the other. After a while the party started to die down and Loki left to say good bye to all of the guests with Thor and his father.

After everyone left Thor helped Jane put a jacket over her dress as the two of them walked out of the foyer, Jane caught the green eyes of Loki down a hall, a mirthful smirk upon his face as she left. She looked up to Thor to see if he noticed, he didn't, then back down the hall to find Loki gone.

She couldn't help the shiver that ran down her back.